Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/559

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ELM—ELM

E S C E S C 539 received the office of privy councillor of justice. He is best known by his German translations of English works. He published a series of German translations of the prin cipal English writers on aesthetics, such as Brown, Burney, Priestley, and Hurd ; and Germany owes also to him the first complete translation of Shakespeare s plays, which, though it is deficient in poetical merits, and some what too free, is still valuable on account of its general correctness. He died on the 27th April 1820. Besides editing, with memoirs, an edition of the later German poets, lie is the author oilfandbuch der Classichen Literatur (1783) ; Entwurf einer Theorie und Literatur der schonen Wissenschaflen (1783) ; Bcispiclsammhmg zur Theorie und Literatur der schone/t Wissenschaflen (8 vols., 1788-95) ; Lchrbuch der WisscnschafLs- kunde (1792) ; and Denkmdler altdeutscher Dichtkunst (1799). Most of these works have passed through several editions. ESCHENMAYER, KARL ADOLF AUGUST YON (1770- 1852) a German philosopher and physicist, was born at Nuremberg 4th January 1770. After receiving his early education at the Caroline academy of Stuttgart, he entered the university of Tubingen, where he received the degree of doctor of medicine. He practised for some time as a physi cian at Sulz, and then at Kirchheim, and in 1811 he was chosen extraordinary professor of philosophy and medicine at Tiibingen. In 1818 he became ordinary professor of practical philosophy, but in 1836 he resigned his professor ship, and took up his residence at Kirchheim, where, till the close of his life, he devoted his whole attention to philo sophical studies. He died on the 13th November 1852. The philosophy of Eschenmayer is grounded primarily on the Kantian metaphysics, and in many particulars his views are identical with those of Schelling,but he differed from him in regard to the knowledge of the absolute. He believed that in order to complete the arc of truth philosophy must be supplemented by what he called " non-philosophy," a kind of mystical illumination by which was obtained a, belief in God that could not be reached by mere intellec tual effort. Thus beyond that system of truth which, according to the three ideas of the true, the beautiful, and the good, he divided into physics, aesthetics, and ethics, he recognized a transcendental revelation given in the idea of the holy. He carried this strong tendency to mysticism into his physical researches, and was led by it to take a deep interest in the phenomena of animal magnetism. He ultimately became a devout believer in demoniacal and spiritual possession ; and his later writings are all strongly impregnated with this lower supernatural ism. His principal works are Die Philosophic in ihrem Uebergangt zur Nichtphilosophie, 1803 ; Versvch die scheinbare Af(tgie des thicr- ischen Magnetismus a us physiol.undpsychischen Gcsetzen zu erkldrcn, 1816 ; System der Moralphilosophie, 1818 ; Psychologic in drei Theilen, als empirische, reine, angcwandte, 1822 ; Rcligionspltil- osophie, 3 vols., 1818-24 ; Die HegeVsche Religionsphilosophie ver/jlichen "nil dem Christl. Princip., 1834 ; Der Ischariotismus vn- screr Tage, 1835 (directed against Strauss s Life of Jesus); Conflict zwischen llimmel und Holle, an dcm Damon eines bcsessenen Mtid- chcns beobachtet, 1837 ; Grundriss der Naturphilosophie, 1832 ; Grundziige der Christl. Philosophic, 1840 ; and Bctrachtungen iiber der physischcn Wcllbau, 1852. ESCHSCHOLTZ, JOHANN FRIEDIUCH, a German tra veller and naturalist, bora November 12, 1793, at Dorpat, where he died May 12, 1831. He was naturalist and physician to Kotzebue s exploring expedition during 1815-18. On his return, he was appointed professor of medicine, and manager of the zoological museum of the university at Dorpat, and in 1823-26 he accompanied Kotzebue on his second voyage of discovery. Among Eschscholtz s publications are the System der Akalephen, Berlin, 1829, and the Zodoglscher Atlas. The genus of plants Exchscholtzia was named by Chamisso in honour of the naturalist. For a figure of the first species described, E. californica, see E, plate ii. in vol. iv. of tbis work. ESCHWEGE, the head town of a circle in the district of Cassel, province of Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, is situated on the Werra, and on the Bebra-Friedland railway, about 28 miles south-east of Cassel. It consists of the old town on the left bank of the Werra, the new town on the right bank, and Briickenhausen on a small island connected with the old and new town by bridges. It is a thriving manu facturing town, its chief industries being leather-making, yarn-spinning, cotton and linen weaving, the manufacture of liquors and oil, and glue and soap boiling. It has two ancient buildings, the Nicholas tower, built in 1455, and the old castle. The population of Eschwege in 1875 was 7724. ESCHWEILER, a town of Rhenish Prussia, in the government district of Aix-la-chapelle, is situated on the Inde, and on the Berg-Mark railway, about 8 miles E.N.E. from Aix-la-chapelle. It possesses three large iron-rolling mills, and among its other industries are the manufacture of iron and tin wares, muslins, needles, and wire. In the neighbourhood are some very valuable coal mines. The population in 1875 was 15,540. ESCOBAR Y MENDOZA, ANTONIO (1589-1669) a Spanish casuist, was a descendant of the illustrious house of Mendoza, and was born at Valladolid in 1589. He was educated by the Jesuits, and at the age of fifteen took the habit of that order. He soon became a famous preacher, and his facility was so great that for 50 years he preached daily, and sometimes twice a day. Notwith standing his constant oratorical efforts, he was a voluminous writer, and published altogether forty vols. in folio. His first literary efforts were Latin verses in praise of St Igna tius Loyola and the Virgin Mary ; but he is best known as a writer on casuistry. His principal works are Sum- nuda Casuum Conscientiae, several scripture commentaries, Liber Theologies moralis, and Universce Theologies moralis Problemata. The first mentioned of these was severely criticised by Pascal in the fifth and sixth of his Provincial Letters, as tending to inculcate a loose system of morality. It contains the famous maxim that purity of intention may be a justification of actions which are contrary to the moral code and to human laws ; and its general tendency is to find excuses for the majority of human frailties. His doctrines were disapproved of by many Catholics, and were mildly condemned by Rome. They were also ridiculed in witty verses by Moliere, Boileau, and La Fontaine, and gradually the name Escobar came to be used in France as a synonym for a person who is adroit in making the

rules of morality harmonize with his own interests. Not-
withstanding the apparent looseness of his moral teaching, 
Escobar is said to have been simple in his habits, a strict

observer of the rules of his order, and unweariedly zealous in his efforts to reform the lives of those with whom he had to deal. He died 4th July 1669. ESCORIAL, or, as the name is not unfrequently given, ESCURIAL, one of the most remarkable buildings in Europe, comprising at once a convent, a church, a palace, and a mausoleum. It is situated on the south-eastern versant of the Sierra de Guadarrama, on the borders of New Castile, about 27 miles N.W. of Madrid, and immediately to the north of the railway between Madrid and Avila. Its lati tude is 40 35 N., its longitude 4 1 W., and its height above the sea 3500 feet. The surrounding country is a sterile and gloomy wilderness exposed to the cold and blighting blasts of the Sierra. According to the usual tra dition, which there seems no sufficient reason to reject, the Escorial owes its existence to a vow made by Philip II. of Spain shortly after the battle of St Quentin, in which his forces succeeded in routing the army of France. The day of the victoiy, August 10, 1557, was sacred to St Laurence,

and accordingly the building was dedicated to that saint