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fungus which is parasitic in the young ovaries of grasses, ordinarily of rye, and known as Claviceps pur pur ea. These scler-otia are usually elongated, dark-violet masses, which are conspicuous in the heads of rye. The fungus belongs to the Ascomy-cetes, which see.
Ericsson (erf%k-suri),John, a great Swedish engineer, was born at Langbanshyttan in 1803. He entered the Swedish army, but left it after several years' service, to give his entire time to his inventions. He gained a prize in England for the best locomotive; and the principle which he introduced, of making a draught artificially so as to do away with the huge smoke-stacks which had been in use, is still employed. He invented soon after a steam fire-engine and the screw-steamer. In 1839 he came to the United States, and designed the screw-propeller for the warship Princeton, the first steamer that had her engines and boilers below the water line, so as to be out of the reach of shot. During the Civil War he built for the government the ironclad vessels called monitors, from the name of the first one. These ships had a turret that turned by machinery, so that the guns could be pointed in any direction. Though laughed at by sailors, who called them a "cheese-box on a raft," they were very successful and formidable, and became famous all over the world. Among his numerous inventions are a gauge for measuring fluids when under pressure, an alarm barometer, a meter to measure the quantity of water which passes through a pipe, a pyrometer, an instrument for taking distances at sea and a sea-lead for taking soundings. He died at New York on March 8, 1889. By his own wish he was buried at his birthplace, a Swedish war-vessel coming to escort his body home, which was sent by the United States government in the man-of-war Baltimore. A statue is to be erected to his memory at Stockholm. See Life by W. C. Church.
Erie, Pennsylvania, county-seat of Erie County, is situated on Lake Erie. It is the only lake-port of the state, and has the best harbor on Lake Erie, five miles in length and protected by a breakwater four miles long. It occupies the site of Fort Pre-sqtae Isle, an old French fort, and is about halfway between Cleveland and Buffalo. Its lake-trade is large, consisting mainly of lucnber, iron-ore, coal and petro-
leum. It has factories of stoves, steam-engines, car-wheels, bricks, leather, organs, pumps, brass-foundries, several oil-refineries breweries, etc. It is supplied with water from the lake, which is pumped to a tower 251 feet high, said to be the highest water-pipe in the world. The government-building, city-hall, St. Vincent's Hospital, Hamot Hospital, U. S. Marine Hospital, Home for the Friendless, Union Depot, opera-house and soldiers' home are among its chief buildings. Near the city is a memorial in the form of a blockhouse, in honor of Anthony Wayne, erected by the state. The city has excellent public schools, a public library, three national and several savings-banks, daily and weekly newspapers and natural gas. It was laid out in 5795, and became a city in 1851. Popula-ion, 66,525.
Erie Canal. See CANAL.
Erie, Fort, was situated in Welland County, Ont., on Niagara River, almost opposite the present site of Buffalo. It was captured by General Brown at the head of a column of 6,000 Americans on July 3, 1814, the garrison consisting of 170 soldiers and volunteers, and evacuated by them on Nov. 5. It was unsuccessfully assaulted by General Drummond on Aug. 15, the accidental explosion of a powder chest nearly annihilating the storming party.
Erie (e'ri), Lake, one of the five great lakes of North America which empty into the St. Lawrence River. Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York are on its southern shore, Canada on the northern one and Michigan on its western. It receives the waters of Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron through the Detroit River, and discharges them through the Niagara River into Lake Ontario. It is 240 miles long and from 30 to 60 broad, its entire area being 9,600 square miles. At its southwestern end are several islands, some of which are cultivated and are noted for their vineyards. It is the shallowest of the five great lakes, and this, with the small number of good harbors, makes navigation dangerous and difficult. The chief harbors are Buffalo, Erie, Dunkirk, Cleveland, Sandusky and Toledo. It is connected with Lake Ontario by the Welland Canal, with the Hudson by the Erie Canal and with the Ohio by the Ohio and the Miami Canals. It receives no large rivers. A naval battle under Commodore Perry was fought with the British on the lake, Sept. 10, 1813. The victory is corn-' memorated by a monument at Cleveland, O., and by a stone on the island of Gibraltar, near the spot of the engagement.
Eritrea (a-re-tra'a ), an Italian colony on the Red Sea, extending from Cape Kasar to Cape Dumeirah on the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. It is bounded on the north and
JOHN ERICSSON
