Part 8

_History._--In the hot, dry sands of Upper Egypt, which preserve the dead from decay, have been found the bodies of large numbers of pre-dynastic Egyptians. They were of the type known as the 'Mediterranean race'. The contents of their stomachs have yielded husks of barley and millet and fragments of mammalian and fish bones. Circumcision was practised, and some men shaved. These people used malachite as an eyelid paint. When they discovered that copper could be extracted from malachite, it was used at first like gold, as has been stated. The production of copper implements and weapons was followed by the conquest of Lower Egypt by the copper-using Upper Egyptians. After the latter moved north, they found that the bodies of their dead decayed, and the practice of mummification was introduced. Before 3000 B.C. the broad-headed, long-bearded Armenoid type began to filter into Lower Egypt. The blending of Armenoids and Arabians in Syria produced 'the hybrid race of Semites'. In Egypt the ethnic fusion was most marked at the commercial capital, Memphis, and especially during the time of the pyramid builders (_c._ 2900-2750 B.C.). The spread of 'copper culture', and the importation into Egypt of timber from Lebanon, apparently brought the ancient races into close contact. Withal, shipbuilding and the art of navigation had advanced by leaps and bounds. Before the Pyramid Age there were sea-traders on the Mediterranean, and the Egyptians imported copper from Sinai across the Red Sea. The legendary Pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt was Mena or Menes. From his time (_c._ 3400 B.C.) till the close of the sixth dynasty (_c._ 2475 B.C.) the capital was Memphis. This period is known as that of the 'Old Kingdom'. Among its outstanding monarchs were Khufu, Khafra, and Menkure of the fourth dynasty, the builders of the largest pyramids. Herodotus refers to them as _Cheops_, _Chephren_, and _Mykerinos_. The 'Middle Kingdom' begins with the rise of Thebes in Upper Egypt as the centre of political power. During this period the nobility became so influential that the Pharaohs had to recognize their rights and privileges. In the period of the famous twelfth dynasty (_c._ 2000-1788 B.C.) the Theban monarchs established a uniform control of Egypt. The later kings of this dynasty were unable, however, to withstand the inroads of Asiatics, and the Middle Kingdom came to an end with the Hyksos invasion. Of the Hyksos, the so-called 'Shepherd Kings', little is known. They were civilized Asiatics, and during their overlordship of Egypt, which embraced the thirteenth till the seventeenth dynasties (_c._ 1800-1575 B.C.), the horse and chariot were introduced into Egypt. A Theban royal house rose into prominence during the latter part of their sway, and the Hyksos were finally expelled by Pharaoh Aahmes, who founded the eighteenth dynasty. The Empire period was then inaugurated. Egypt's greatest emperor, Thothmes III (1515-1461 B.C.), extended his conquests to the borders of Asia Minor, and received tribute from the Hittites, and even from Cyprus and Crete. During the reign of Akhenaton, the Hittites and their allies, the Amorites, seized the Egyptian sphere of influence in Syria and Northern Palestine.

In the nineteenth dynasty (1350-1205 B.C.) much of the lost territory was recovered. Rameses II (1325-1258 B.C.) fought his Waterloo at Kadesh, but found it necessary about 1300 B.C. to conclude a treaty of peace with the Hittites, the Assyrian Power at the time becoming very powerful and aggressive. Rameses III of the twentieth dynasty was the last great Pharaoh of the Empire period. He successfully resisted the threatened invasions of naval and military peoples from Greece and Anatolia in 1200 B.C. It is believed that the Trojan War (1194-1184 B.C.) was waged by the same confederacy which had attempted to invade the Delta region. No fewer than nine Pharaohs named Rameses ruled in Egypt after Rameses III. Most of these were priest-kings. A Libyan dynasty held sway for about two centuries (950-750 B.C.). One of its Pharaoh-Sheshhonks was the 'Shishak' who was an ally of Solomon; after the death of that monarch he invaded Palestine. The Ethiopians of Nubia (Sudan) subsequently overran Egypt. One of its Pharaohs, Shabaka, was the ally of King Hosea of Israel against Assyria; he was defeated at Raphia by Sargon in 720 B.C. The last Ethiopian Pharaoh, Taharka, was in 662 B.C. overcome by the invading army of the Assyrian Emperor, Ashur-banipal. The northern royal family of Sais then came into power, and the twenty-sixth dynasty, which lasted for about 130 years (662-525 B.C.), was inaugurated by Psamtik I. Pharaoh-Necho, referred to in the Bible, was the second ruler. It was during Necho's reign that his Phoenician mariners circumnavigated Africa. Egyptian culture was at the time spreading far and wide along sea and land routes. Trade was flourishing. The greatest world-power at the time, however, was Persia, and in 525 B.C. Egypt was conquered by Cambyses and became a Persian province, with short interruptions of weak native dynasties (the twenty-eighth to thirtieth), until in 332 B.C. Alexander the Great seized it and founded Alexandria. The Ptolemaic dynasty afterwards held sway for about three centuries. During this period learning and the arts flourished. Alexandria was not only a commercial town, but a centre of culture and the capital of Egypt. Osiris was worshipped there in the form of Serapis. During the latter part of the dynasty the native Egyptians were using Greek and Graecized names, and the whole country was more or less Hellenized. The fifteenth Ptolemy was the younger brother of the famous Cleopatra, the seventh of her name. He vanished, and was succeeded by Cleopatra's son, Caesarion--Ptolemy XVI--whose father was Julius Caesar. Both Cleopatra and her son perished when Egypt became a Roman province in 30 B.C. A daughter of Cleopatra and Antony became the wife of Juba, King of Morocco.

The Romans drew vast quantities of gold from the mines of Nubia (_nub_ means 'gold') and made Egypt their 'granary'. Egyptian religious beliefs and customs were perpetuated by the Roman emperors. Tiberius and Vespasian restored ancient Nilotic temples. The worship of Isis spread to Rome. Hadrian had to give a decision in a dispute between Memphis and Heliopolis regarding the sacred bull. But Egyptian native learning was decaying, and the knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was dying out. Christianity was introduced during the Roman period, and the Coptic Church established. In A.D. 642 the Romans finally abandoned Egypt, which, till 868, became a province of the successive Mohammedan caliphates of Medina, of Damascus, and Baghdad. The Turkish soldiery dominated Egypt for a period. The Shia heretics afterwards became powerful, and the Christians were well treated. In 1250 the Mamelukes (descendants of slaves) came into power. Their pomp-loving sultans and emirs lived in great splendour. They came under Turkish sway early in the sixteenth century, but when Napoleon conquered Egypt in the eighteenth century they were again semi-independent. The British drove the French out of Egypt. Mehemet Ali, an Albanian officer in a Turko-Albanian force, had himself declared Sultan of Egypt, but when he overran Syria and threatened to march to Constantinople, Russia intervened. Britain and France afterwards prevailed on Mehemet Ali to rule Egypt as the viceroy of the Sultan of Turkey. His successor and grandson, Abbas I, built the first railway in Egypt. The next viceroy, Said Pasha, son of Mehemet Ali, granted to a French company the right to construct the Suez Canal. Egypt became bankrupt under his successor, Ismail Pasha, the first Khedive (Prince), during whose reign the Suez Canal was opened. He was deposed when the British and French took over the control of Egyptian finance. During the term of his successor, Tewfik Pasha, the Arabi Pasha rebellion took place. The military occupation of Egypt by British troops was followed by peace and good government. But trouble broke out in the Sudan. Mohammed Ahmed declared himself the Mahdi (Messiah) of the Mohammedans, and conquered a great part of the Sudan. In Nov., 1883, General Hicks ('Hicks Pasha') led an army of 10,000 Egyptians against the false prophet, but while marching across the driest part of the Sudan, misled by spies who acted as guides, his thirst-stricken army was entirely destroyed by the Mahdi's force. This victory gave the false prophet great prestige. In Jan., 1884, General Gordon was sent to Khartoum as Governor-General of the Sudan, but was completely isolated there. Khartoum was captured and the gallant general slain on 26th Jan., 1885, before a relieving force could reach him. The Mahdi died in June, 1885, and was succeeded by Abdullah the Khalifa. After a period of reorganization and preparation in Egypt, the reconquest of the Sudan was begun. Lord (then Sir Herbert) Kitchener was Sirdar, or Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian army, and his expeditionary force was strengthened by British regiments. In April, 1898, the Khalifa's army was defeated on the banks of the Atbara, and on 2nd Sept. Kitchener won a great victory near Omdurman. The Khalifa escaped, but was rounded up by Sir Reginald Wingate's force, and slain with his emirs at Umme Dubraykat on 24th Nov., 1899. Thereafter the Sudan came under the control of a British-Egyptian _condominium_, which appointed a Governor-General.

At the time of the outbreak of the Great War, in the autumn of 1914, the Khedive of Egypt was in Constantinople. He sided with the Central Powers. He was consequently deposed by Britain, and Prince Hussein Kamil was declared Sultan of Egypt; the suzerainty of Turkey terminated at the same time. The new ruler of Egypt was the uncle of the deposed Khedive, Abbas Pasha Hilmi (second son of the first Khedive, Ismail Pasha, and brother of Tewfik Pasha, the second Khedive). Hussein Kamil died in 1917 and was succeeded by Ahmed Fuad Pasha. Under the Peace Treaty, Egypt is recognized as an independent kingdom protected by Great Britain. The capital of modern Egypt is Cairo, situated near the site of ancient Memphis. Thebes is represented by Luxor and Karnak.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: (Religion) Breasted, _Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt_; Renouf, _Book of the Dead_; Budge, _Gods of the Egyptians_; Wiedemann, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_; Sayce, _Religion of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia_; G. Elliot Smith, _The Migrations of Early Culture_; (History)--G. Elliot Smith, _The Ancient Egyptians_; Breasted, _A History of Egypt_; Flinders Petrie, _A History of Egypt_; King and Hall, _Egypt and Western Asia in the Light of Recent Discoveries_; H. R. Hall, _The Ancient History of the Near East_; Sir A. Colvin, _The Making of Modern Egypt_; Lord Cromer, _Modern Egypt_.

EGYPTIAN BLUE, a brilliant and very permanent pigment used by the Romans in the early centuries of the Christian era. It has been found in ancient frescoes in the Vatican, and also at Pompeii. The chemist Fouqu['e] proved by analysis that it is a double silicate of calcium and copper.

EGYPTIAN VULTURE (_Neophron perenopt[)e]rus_), a bird that frequents both shores of the Mediterranean, but rarely passes farther north, though it has been found in the British islands. It is one of the smaller vultures, about the size of a raven. The general colour is white, the quill feathers of the wing being dark brown. It frequents the streets of Eastern towns, where it is protected on account of its services as a scavenger. This vulture is sometimes known as Pharaoh's Hen, on account of its frequent representation in Egyptian hieroglyphics. In Spain it is called the _quebranta-huesos_ (bone-smasher) in reference to its supposed habit of breaking up bones left by other vultures.

EHRENBERG ([=a]'r[.e]n-ber_h_), Christian Gottfried, a German scientist, born in 1795, died in 1876. After studying theology, medicine, and natural history, he joined in 1820 an expedition to Palestine, Egypt, and Abyssinia, returning to Berlin in 1825. In 1829 he accompanied Humboldt to the Ural and Altai ranges and to Central Siberia. His great work on Infusoria appeared in 1838, and was at once recognized as the highest authority on the subject. It was followed in 1854 by his _Microgeology_.

EHRENBREITSTEIN ([=a]'ren-br[=i]t-st[=i]n), a dismantled Prussian fortress formerly of great strength and situated opposite the confluence of the Moselle with the Rhine, on a precipitous rock 387 feet above the river, and inaccessible on three sides. It is connected with Coblentz on the opposite shore by a bridge of boats. The fortifications, which were erected between 1816 and 1820 at a cost of L1,200,000, could accommodate a garrison of 14,000 men, and possessed room for stores to last an army of 60,000 for a year.

EHRLICH, Paul, German physician, born in Silesia in 1854, died in 1915. Educated at Breslau, Strasburg, and Leipzig, he became _privat-dozent_ at the University of Berlin in 1889, and in 1896 was appointed director of the Royal Institute for Serum Research at Steglitz, which was transferred to Frankfurt in 1899, and became the Royal Institute for Experimental Therapeutics. His studies in the histology of blood are very important, but his claim to fame is based upon his discovery of _salvarsan_ (606) and of _neosalvarsan_ (614), arsenic compounds which are very efficacious in the treatment of syphilis. He delivered the Croonian lectures in 1900 and the Harben lectures in 1907, received honorary degrees from the universities of Oxford and Chicago, and in 1908 shared the Nobel prize for medicine with Metchnikoff of the Institut Pasteur in Paris. His works include: _Beitr[:a]ge zu Histologie und Klinik des Blutes_, _Anaemie_, _Abhandlungen [:u]ber Salvarsan_, &c.

EIBENSTOCK ([=i]'ben-stok), a town in the south-east of Saxony, with important manufactures of lace. Pop. 9528.

EICHHORN ([=i]_h_'horn), Johann Gottfried, German Orientalist, historian, &c., born in 1752, died in 1827. He became professor of Oriental languages at Jena, and then at G[:o]ttingen. Amongst his works are: _The Hebrew Prophets_, _History of Literature_, _History of the Last Three Centuries_, _Introductions to the Old and New Testaments and to the Apocrypha_.

EICHST[:A]TT ([=i]_h_'stet), an old town, Bavaria, in a deep valley of the Altm[:u]hl, 67 miles N.N.W. of Munich. Its principal edifice is a fine Gothic cathedral, founded in 1259. Pop. 8029.

EIDER ([=i]'d[.e]r), a river of Schleswig-Holstein, rises 8 miles S. of Kiel, and after a winding course falls into the North Sea at T[:o]nning; length, 112 miles. By means of a canal it long gave communication between the North Sea and Baltic, but the new ship canal here has superseded this route.

EIDER DUCK (_Somateria molliss[)i]ma_), a species of duck found from 45deg north to the highest latitudes yet visited, both in Europe and America. Its favourite haunts are solitary rocky shores and islands. In Greenland and Iceland they occur in great numbers, and also breed on the western islands of Scotland. The eider duck is about twice the size of the common duck, being about 2 feet 3 inches in length, 3 feet in breadth of wing, and from 6 to 7 lb. in weight. The male is black, head and back white, with a black crown. The female is reddish drab spotted with black, and with two white bands on the wings. They feed largely on shell-fish and crustaceans. Their nests are usually formed of drift grass or dry seaweed, lined with a large quantity of down, which the female plucks from her own breast. In this soft bed she lays five eggs, which she covers over with a layer of down. If this, with the eggs, is removed, the bird repeats the process. One female generally furnishes about 1/2 lb. of down, but the quantity is reduced by cleaning. This down, from its superior warmth, lightness, and elasticity, is in great demand for beds and coverlets; and the districts in Norway and Iceland where these birds abound are guarded with the greatest vigilance as a most valuable property. As found in commerce this down is in balls of the size of a man's fist, and weighing from 3 to 4 lb. It is so fine and elastic that 5 lb. of the best quality is sufficient for a whole bed. The down from dead birds is little esteemed, having lost its elasticity. The king eider duck (_Somateria spectab['i]lis_) is another species resembling the preceding and inhabiting the same coasts.--Cf. J. G. Millais, _British Diving Ducks_.

EIFFEL ([=a]-fel), Alexandre Gustave, French engineer, born in 1832; attended, from 1852 to 1855, the ['E]cole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures at Paris, and devoted himself chiefly to the designing of large structures in iron, especially bridges and viaducts, the great bridge over the Douro being one of his works. His name is best known, however, from the lofty iron tower erected by him in connection with the Paris Exhibition of 1889, rising to the height of 985 feet on the Champ de Mars. He was condemned in 1893 to two years' imprisonment and a fine of 20,000 francs for misappropriation of funds belonging to the Panama Canal Company, but the judgment was set aside on technical grounds. In 1913 he published a work entitled _Resistance of the Air_. See next article.

EIFFEL TOWER, a structure named after the originator, one of the sights of Paris, is by far the loftiest structure in existence, surpassing the Washington Obelisk, the next highest (555 feet), by 430 feet. It cost about L260,000, and was erected partly at the cost of the State, partly by funds provided by Eiffel himself, who formed a company for the purpose. The company derived its profits from the fees which visitors had to pay, but the tower became the property of the State in 1909. The top may be reached by stairs and lifts. The first stage or platform is at the height of 189 feet, and forms a quadrilateral 213 feet square, fitted up as a restaurant. The next platform is at the height of about 380 feet, and is 98 feet square. The third platform is at the height of 906 feet, and is large enough to accommodate a good number of persons, affording a magnificent view. The lantern higher up is supplied with powerful electric searchlights, and on the very summit is a small area utilized chiefly for scientific observations. The tower has been utilized in experiments connected with the fall of bodies, vibration of the pendulum, and pressure of the air. In recent years the tower has become an important wireless telegraphy station.

EIGG (eg), an island on the west coast of Scotland, county of Inverness, about 10 miles from the mainland, and 5 miles long by about 3 broad. It has bold, rocky shores, and terminates to the south in a lofty promontory called the Scuir of Eigg, with a peak of columnar pitchstone porphyry 1339 feet above the sea, and on one side perpendicular as a wall. It is the scene of the massacre, towards the end of the sixteenth century, of 200 Macdonalds by the Macleods of Skye, who suffocated them in a cave where they had taken refuge. Pop. 211.

EIGHT-HOUR DAY. The eight-hour day was proposed in England as early as 1833, and in 1869 the Trade Union Congress of Birmingham formulated the demand that this ideal working day should be adopted throughout the United Kingdom. The Trade Unions and the Socialists sought to secure the establishment of the eight-hour day through legislation, and it gradually came into force not only in coal-mining, but in various trades and industries. The agitation in favour of an eight-hour day became very strong in Europe towards the end of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth centuries, and in England it was granted to miners in 1908, and to railway employees in 1919. Since the European War the movement has made great headway, and it now forms part of the programme of the Labour parties in almost all European countries.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hedfield and Gibbins, _A Shorter Working Day_; Robertson, _The Eight Hour Question_.

EIGHTY CLUB, THE, a club formed in 1879 by a number of prominent English Liberals with a view to the promotion of the success of Liberalism at the general election of 1880, whence its name. The members lecture on political subjects and address Liberal associations throughout the country. Women were first admitted to membership in 1920.

EIKON BASILIK[=E] ([=i]'kon ba-sil'i-k[=e]; Gr., 'the royal image'), the name of a book published shortly after the execution of Charles I in Jan., 1649, and supposed by some to have been written by the king himself. At the Restoration Gauden, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, laid claim to the authorship, and a memorandum in the copy of the Earl of Anglesea, Lord Privy Seal under Charles II, affirms his claim with the authority of Charles II and the Duke of York. The Royalist Clarendon, author of the _History of the Rebellion_, accepted this statement, but others refused to credit Gauden with the authorship. Within a year of its publication, 48,000 copies of the book were sold, and the republicans put forward Milton to answer it, his _Eikonoklastes_ (that is 'image-breaker') appearing the same year, by order of Parliament. The _Eikon Basilik[=e]_ professes to be a sort of private journal of the king, written in an affectedly dignified strain, and containing numerous assertions of love for his misguided and ungrateful people.--Cf. Almack, _Bibliography of the King's Book, or Eikon Basilik[=e]_.

EILDON HILLS ([=e]l'don), a picturesque hill-mass with three summits, south of Melrose, Roxburghshire, Scotland, reaching a height of nearly 1400 feet, fabled to have been cleft in three by Michael Scott.

EILEITHYIA ([=i]-l[=i]-th[=i]'ya), the Greek name of the ancient Egyptian city Nekheb (the modern El-Kab), on the Nile, some distance above Esneh. Important remains have been obtained from rock-tombs in the neighbourhood, and there are several ruined temples.

EILENBURG ([=i]'l[.e]n-b[u:]r_h_), a town, Prussian Saxony, 26 miles N.N.E. of Merseburg, on an island of the Mulde. It has manufactures of calico. Pop. 17,400.

EIMBECK ([=i]m'bek), or EINBECK, a town of Prussia, province of Hanover, 40 miles south of Hanover, once famous for its beer (_Eimbecker Bier_, whence _Bock_). Pop. 9430.

EINSIEDELN ([=i]n'z[=e]-d[.e]ln), a village and district, Switzerland, in the canton and 9 miles north by east of Schwyz, 3000 feet above the sea, celebrated for its Benedictine abbey. An image of the Virgin, alleged to possess miraculous powers, annually attracts immense numbers of pilgrims. Pop. 8438.