EXCISE. 344 EXCOMMUNICATION. in some form or other has ever continued to be a material element in the taxation of Great Britain. In the United States the term excise is com- paratively unfamiliar. The taxation which cor- responds to the English excise is here known as internal revenue taxation. See Internal Reve- nue System. An excise, when compared with other taxes, has its good and its bad features: it is a method of extracting money for national purposes as expenditures on luxuries, and is especially ser- viceable when fed from those luxuries the use of which in excess becomes a vice. On the other hand, it renders necessary a system of inquisi- tional inspection, while the manufacturer is at times obliged to employ a more expensive and in- convenient process, and to forego the introduction of improvements, in order to conform to govern- mental regulations, the cost of such unnecessary labor falling eventually upon the consumer. Moreover, checking the demand by artificially raising the price of a commodity in this way may often retard the growth of a rising industry. Though counteracted in a measure by the bond- ing system, the necessity of a larger capital for the manufacture of excisable articles fosters a sort of monopoly by its tendency to check com- petition: and since the manufacturer must realize profits on that part of his capital which is ap- plied to the payment of taxes, as well as what is directly employed in the production of the article, the price to the consumer is greatly increased. These objections do not, however, invalidate the advantages of the excise system in this country, where the luxuries, spirits and tobacco, bear the chief burden of the tax ; and it is the com- mon opinion that a low excise on articles of lux- ury is the most, productive as well as the least objectionable of taxes. See Finance; Stamp Act; Stamps: Tax. EXCI'TANT (from Lat. excitare, to excite, from ex, out -f- eicre, to call), or Stimulant (from Lat. stimulare, to stimulate, from stimu- lus, goad). Any pharmaceutical preparation which, acting through the nervous system, tends to increase the action of the heart and other or- gans. Excitants all possess more or less of a pungent taste, and give rise to a sensation of warmth when placed on a tender part of the skin. The class is a very numerous one, and the application of excitants or stimulants to the human subject should always be under the super- vision of a qualified medical practitioner. EXCITO-MOTOR ACTION. See Nervous Systum. EXCLUDED MIDDLE, The Law or mi The logical principle that, of two contradictory propositions, both cannot be denied. One of the two must l»' affirmed. EXCLUSION BILL. See Cii.vri.es II.; Jami s [I. EXCOMMUNICATION. Exclusion by formal sentence from the fellowship of the Christian « (lurch. The ancient Romans had something analogous in the exclusion from the temples and from participation in the sacrifices of certain per- sons, whi "'I] nvcr with awe inspiring to tin- furies. The Mosaic law de- ed excommunication in the case of certain offenses, and the intimate connection of things civil and ecclesia tica] under the Jewish polity rendered it a dreaded punishment. In the time nt Christ it was a recognized penalty in practice (see John ix. 22; xii. 42; xvi. ±. A distinct inn is drawn in the Mishna between two degrees of excommunication; of these, the milder {chen m) involved exclusion from the life of the community for thirty days, with the performance of penances and the wearing of mourning apparel. Twenty- four causes are enumerated, most of them of a civil nature, which justified this form of penalty. The heavier sentence (niddui) was pronounced with great formality of solemn curses, and was for an indefinite time. Little is definitely known about the possibility and the manner of recon- ciliation. Some have thought they found a third species of excommunication in the expression shammatJia ; but this is properly a general term, which may be applied to either of the foregoing. A similar power was recognized from the first in the Christian Church (see Matt, xviii. 17; I. Cor. v. 5; I. Tim. i. 20). Further proofs that it has always claimed the power of excommuni- cation are to be found in such early writers as Irena'us, Cyprian, Basil, Leo the Great, and Am- brose. The fathers spoke of two forms of excom- munication, medicinal and mortal — that is, heal- ing or reformatory and damnatory. The two de- grees of excommunication, major and minor, were early distinguished. Minor excommunication in- volved exclusion from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and from other privileges of the Church. Major excommunication was pronounced upon obstinate sinners, relapsed offenders, and heretics. Its form was usually more solemn and the de- cree not so easily revoked. The term of the ex- communication was left to the bishop. ( See Absolution.) In Africa and Spain the absolu- tion of lapsed persons — that is, those who in times of persecution had yielded and fallen away from their Christian professions by actual sacri- fice to idols — was forbidden except at the hour of death, unless by the special intercession of martyrs. At first no civil disabilities were con- nected with excommunication, but as govern- ments became Christian, major excommunication was followed by loss of political rights and ex- clusion from public office. The capitularies of Pepin the Short, in the eighth century, ordained that major excommunication should be followed by banishment. Other national laws still further extended the scope of the ecclesiastical censure. By a logical consequence a sentence of excom- munication directed against the ruler deprived him of his rights to govern, and by that fact ab- solved his subjects from their allegiance to him. When such a purpose was intended, however, a special sentence to that effect was attached to the bull of excommunication. The reformers claimed the power of excommunication in the same de- gree n^ the Church from which they seceded, but her. as may be seen from the Table Talk, insisted "ii Hie right of excommunication as in- herent in the ministers of the Church. Calvin (see Dyer. Lift of Calvin. London. I860) n--.it ed thai excommunication is of the verj essence of the ministry. t firs! civil disabilities, as in Geneva, followed excommunication in reform communities. Later this ceased to be tin- prac- tice. Nevertheless in England, until 1813, per- sons excommunicated were debarred from bring- ing or maintaining actions, from serving as jury- men, from appearing as witnesses in any cause, and from practicing a- attorneys in any of the
