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enough as far as 8000. On the mathematical part of the calendar full information will be found in Delambre's 'Histoire de l'Astronomie Moderne,' and Lalande's Astronomy.'

With regard to the faulty explanation in the act of parliament, we find that it was copied literally from the Book of Common Prayer. In this work it appeared for the first time in 1662, directly after the convocation which met at the Restoration of the monarchy had made the alterations mentioned in LITURGY. The explanation was therefore added by this convocation. Supposing the calendar moon to be spoken of, it would have been correct if the second clause had been omitted. For the calendar full moon is always the fifteenth day, and it is clear that "the Sunday after the fourteenth, or the next Sunday if the fourteenth fall on Sunday," is the same thing as "the Sunday after the fifteenth, or the fifteenth itself, if it be Sunday." Finding definitions of Easter by the fifteenth, in the second of the two ways just mentioned, to have occurred in times anterior to the Restoration, we suppose that the explanation of 1662 was the result of a confusion

of the two.

EASTER DUES. [OFFERINGS.]
EAVES. [HOUSES.]
EBB. [TIDES.]

the ether forming the outer surface of the drop. Turpentine forms a disc on the hot oil, and quickly disappears by evaporation; but pyrox ilic spirit and bisulphide of carbon form globules. Sulphuric ether also forms a globule on the surface of hot water and hot mercury. Sulphuric acid heated to about 400° may also be used as the heated surface for ether and alcohol; but turpentine and naphtha form discs which quickly blacken the acid. Mr. Tomlinson refers to an experi ment by Perkins, in which a platinum capsule, pierced with a multitude of holes like a coffee-strainer, which would not of course hold water while cold, retained it when strongly heated in consequence of water assuming the spheroidal state.

The physicists who had examined this phenomenon were pretty well agreed that the water, when in the globular or spheroidal state, was below its boiling point. Of this there could, of course, be no doubt; but what the exact temperature was had not been determined, any more than why the liquids, in the midst of so high a temperature, should be so little influenced by it. Rumford supposed it to be due "to the reflection of caloric operating on the surface of the drops of water." Pouillet supposes that "the calorific rays emanating from the vessel traverse the water too easily when they are very hot." Dumas (Chimie Appliquée aux Arts,' i. 32), while admitting the fact, thinks "it ought to caution us against the accidents which a steam-boiler is liable to produce, when raised accidentally to a high temperature; for it might happen that it ceases to furnish steam, and, nevertheless, a reduction of temperature would cause an explosion. Plates of fusible metal are especially useful in 'preventing accidents' of this kind, since they limit the temperature that can be attained by the boiler; for it is evident that a valve would not be raised at the moment when this singular phenomenon should display itself."

EBIONITES, a sect of Christian Jews, which existed in Palestine and other parts of the East in the 1st and 2nd centuries of our era. Like the Nazarenes, with whom they have been often confounded, they continued to observe the precepts and ceremonies of the Mosaic law; they kept both the Sabbath and the Sunday, made their ablutions, used unleavened bread in the celebration of the Eucharist, and, moreover, abstained from eating flesh. Still they do not seem to have formed a distinct sect till after the second destruction of Jerusalem by Hadrian, when they became separated from the rest of the Church by their dogmas as well as by their external practices. Origen, Epiphanius, Eusebius, and other early fathers, distinguish two sorts of Ebionites, -namely, those who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, asserting that he was the son of Joseph and Mary, though endowed with a prophetic gift; and those who maintained that he was born of a virgin, but denied his pre-existence as God. The Ebionites in general acknowledged only one gospel, namely, the Hebrew one, which goes by the name of St. Matthew, and that one mutilated. They discarded the Acts of the Apostles, and especially the Epistles of St. Paul, whom they considered as an apostate from the old law. They had several apocryphal books; among others, a life of St. Peter. The earlier Ebionites lived a regular life, and many of them observed celibacy, which they held in great esteem. The later Ebionites became much more lax in their morals. The name of Ebionites is said by Eusebius,-166°; and as mercury freezes at-39°, we can understand how the Origen, and Irenæus, to be derived from a Hebrew word of contempt, meaning "poor low people," which the Jews applied to those of their countrymen who had embraced Christianity. Others have derived it from a philosopher of the name of Ebion, whose existence however is doubtful. Epiphanius speaks at length of the Ebionites, but he confounds them with other sects, and his account cannot be trusted. The Ebionites never rose into much importance, and exercised but little influence on the spread of Christianity. (Mosheim, Institutes of Eccles. History, with notes by Dr. Murdoch; Neander, Kirchengeschichte.) EBULLITION (ebullio, to boil). Under BOILING OF LIQUIDS were given the chemical and physical aspects of ebullition. Under the present head we propose to notice what is called the spheroidal state of liquids, which has of late years attracted considerable attention.

In 1756 Leidenfrost called attention to the fact that, when water is allowed to fall upon a red-hot iron plate, it does not boil, but forms into drops, which roll or jump about for a considerable time. This experiment has attracted the attention at various times of such men as Klaproth, Count Rumford, Pouillet, and Dumas; and it came to be shown as a class experiment, in which case a small platinum crucible is strongly heated by means of a copious flame from the spirit-lamp, and water is dropped into it from a pipette: the water does not boil, but the drops coalesce and roll about with considerable activity. In this way about one-fourth or one-third of the crucible may be filled; and, provided the heat be well maintained, the water does not only not boil, but evaporates very slowly. If, however, the heat be withdrawn, the water remains quiet for about half a minute, and then suddenly bursts into steam and disappears. In 1837, Mr. Tomlinson (Mechanics' Magazine,' No. 703) showed that other liquids might be substituted for water in the above experiment, such as pyroxilic spirit, spirits of wine, sulphuric ether, and even mercury; but the last is quickly dissipated. Such fluids as come into immediate contact with the hot metal, such as oil of turpentine, olive oil, and sulphuric acid, were immediately decomposed and failed to produce the effect. The same writer ('Students' Manual of Natural Philosophy,' 1838) also showed that many saline solutions could be used instead of water; but the most curious result obtained by him was the use of a hot liquid surface instead of a metallic one, such as a fixed oil, raised to the temperature of 450° or 500. Some care is required in this experiment: the liquid, such as water, alcohol, or ether, must be delivered from a pipette, with a steady hand, directly on to the surface of the hot oil; not allowed to fall, otherwise the liquid may sink under the surface, generate steam with explosive violence, and scatter about the hot oil. If, while a globule of water be rotating on the hot oil, a globule of ether be also placed on it the two drops will coalesce and continue to rotate as one globule

In 1845-6 M. Boutigny exhibited some remarkable experiments on this subject before the British Association, and in several institutions of the metropolis; among others, in the laboratory of King's College, where the writer had an opportunity of seeing them. The most remarkable effect was the freezing of water in a red- or white-hot crucible, for which purpose advantage was taken of the low boilingpoint (that is, 140° Fahr.) of liquid sulphurous acid. This assumes the spheroidal state a little below 14°; and if water be dropped into the crucible, it immediately falls considerably below its freezing-point, and a lump of solid ice can be turned out of the glowing vessel into the hand. Faraday has even carried the matter further, by freezing mercury under similar circumstances, substituting for the sulphurous acid a solution of solid carbonic acid in ether. By means of this mixture, a degree of cold has been obtained equal to about mixture will assume the spheroidal state in the red-hot crucible, and mercury be readily frozen. Boutigny also placed iodine on an ignited platinum capsule, when it melted, formed a spheroidal black-looking mass, which rolled about and gave off but little vapour. But when the source of heat was withdrawn, an abundant evolution of violetcoloured fumes took place. A thick cylinder of silver was heated to redness, and lowered by means of a wire into a glass of water, where it quietly remained for a considerable time. But perhaps the most remarkable result was the impunity with which M. Boutigny passed his hand backwards and forwards through a stream of cast iron as it issued from the furnace, thus showing that the old ordeal by fire was not so formidable a trial as would at first sight appear. The above phenomena admit of explanation: First, on the fact that, whenever the liquids are thrown upon strongly-heated surfaces, a portion of the liquid is immediately converted into vapour, upon which the globule rests as on a cushion. Now as this vapour is a bad conductor of heat, it shields the globule from the conducting powers of the heated surface. In the second place, the evaporation from the surface of the globule carries off the heat as fast as it arrives, and thus maintains the globule at a temperature below that of its boiling-point. The spheroidal form of the drop is a joint effect of gravity and cohesion among the fluid particles. There must also be taken into account the repulsive force exerted by heat under the circumstances. So necessary is the condition that the liquid in the spheroidal state shall be below boiling, that if a liquid actually in the state of ebullition be introduced into the red-hot crucible, its temperature sinks from 5° to 7° below its boiling-point. According to Boutigny, all liquids are capable of assuming this state; but in all cases the heated surface must bear a certain relation to the boiling-point of the liquid: if the latter be low, the former must be comparatively low also. The required temperature depends partly on the conducting power of the plate, and partly on the latent heat of the vapour: as this is small, the heat of the plate may approximate more nearly to the boiling-point of the liquid. The lowest heat of the plate required to throw water into the spheroidal state is said to be 340° Fahr.; alcohol, 273°; ether, 142°. The temperature of each liquid in the spheroidal state is supposed to be as definite as its boiling-point. Boutigny gives 205 7° Fahr. as the temperature of the spheroidal state of water, 167.9° for that of alcohol, 93.6° for that of ether, and 13.1° for that of sulphurous acid. The spheroidal state may be produced in vacuo. In the experiment in which the moist hand is made to cut a stream of molten iron, the moisture of the hand forms the cushion of steam which prevents the metal from coming in contact with the skin.

An ingenious application of the spheroidal condition of liquids is

sometimes made in the glass-house in blowing globes or cylinders of large size the globular form is first given by means of open hemispherical wooden moulds; and, to prevent them from being burnt, the workman pours into them a small quantity of water, which protects the wood, and, assuming the spheroidal state, does not cool the molten glass. ECBALIUM OFFICINARUM, (Richard), is the name now given to the plant, the unripe fruit of which furnishes the elaterium of the Materia Medica. Its familiar name is Wild Cucumber, or Asses' Cucumber, indicative of its appearance, and hurtful properties to those who incautiously employ it. Its medical or professional employment will generally be sufficiently careful-but as its incautious handling even may lead to serious, if not fatal effects, it is proper that these should be guarded against. The exhalation from the fruit, which can readily be absorbed through the human skin, is capable of producing as strong effects as a dose of the substance taken by the mouth. An instance is recorded where a small portion of the plant, with only one or two small fruits on it, carried in the hat for not more than an hour, produced violent headache, vomiting, and purging, followed by a degree of exhausting depression, almost fatal.

The other points connected with this plant are treated of under MORMODICA in the NAT. HIST. DIV., and under ELATERIN, in ARTS AND SCI. Div.

ECCENTRIC IN MACHINERY. [EXCENTRIC.] ECCLESIASTES, or THE PREACHER, a canonical book of the Old Testament, placed after the Proverbs and before the Song of Solomon. The English title is adopted from that in the Greek Septuagint ('EKKANσLAσтs, Ecclesiastes), which is a translation of the Hebrew title Koheleth, that is, one who calls together or calls out to an assembly a public declaimer or preacher. A review of the various learned interpretations of this term is given in Mr. Holden's work on Ecclesiastes, p. 31. Widely different opinions have been expressed by many Biblical critics concerning the author, date, and design of this portion of the Bible. The general supposition that Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon is apparently warranted by the passages i. 1, 12, 16, ii. 4–9, which designate the author as the son of David, king of Israel, and the greatest possessor of wealth and wisdom in Jerusalem. The writers of the Talmud, and Rabbi Kimchi attribute this book, as well as Proverbs and the Song, to King Hezekiah or the prophet Isaiah. The Rev. G. Holden, in his 'Attempt to Illustrate the Book of Ecclesiastes,' ably contends for its authorship by Solomon, in his old age, when he had repented of his former practices, and says, “ Many parts of the work itself corroborate this opinion. The acknowledgment of numerous follies and delusions implies that it was composed after the author had apostatised from Jehovah, and had subsequently repented of his past misconduct." This view seems by far the best supported by the internal evidence of the book; notwithstanding the opposition founded on style, and certain asserted minute inconsistencies by many German, French, and English authors. Dr. Adam Clarke (Preface to Ecclesiastes,' in his ed. of the Bible) asserts that the traditionary notion entertained by the Jews and many Christian divines, as Jerome, Huet, Michaelis, &c., that Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon in his old age, after recovering from idolatry and sensuality, is an assumption which never has been nor can be proved to be true; for since it was "when Solomon was old, that his heart was turned away after other gods by his 700 wives and 300 concubines" (1 Kings, ii. 3 and 4); and as he died about the age of sixty, the supposition of a final period of philosophical and pious contrition is not warranted by probability. "The language," says the same divine, "puzzles me not a little; Chaldaisms, Syriasms, and Chaldee words are frequent, and the style is that of the authors who lived at or after the captivity." Bishop Lowth remarks that the style is peculiar; the diction low, exceedingly obscure, loose, unconnected, and resembling conversation. (Prælect.' 24.) The general opinion of the commentators, that the design of the book is to inquire about the supreme good, and to show that it consists in religious wisdom, is adopted by Mr. Holden, with the idea, also, of its consisting of two divisions: the first, to verse 10 of chap. vi., being occupied in setting forth the vanity of all the labours and enjoyments of human life; the second, in eulogising religious wisdom and describing its nature and effects. This wisdom has nothing sensual; it is holy and spiritual; and forms the ultimate good for creatures who are to be responsible for their actions. The book was included in the canon of the Hebrew Scriptures alluded to and sanctioned by our Saviour in Luke xxiv. 44, and by St. Paul in 2 Timothy iii. 16. ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are a body corporate, created by the statute 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 77, for certain purposes and with certain powers therein named. The great inequalities in the extent and income of the dioceses of England and Wales, in the duties and receipts of the cathedral and collegiate bodies, and in the extent of parishes and the annual value of the benefices of the Church of England, after long and angry comments, gave rise in 1835 to the issue of two commissions, directing the persons named therein to consider the state of the dioceses with reference to the amount of their revenues, and the more equal distribution of episcopal duties; and of the several cathedral and collegiate churches, with a view to the suggestion of such measures as might render them conducive to the efficiency of the Established Church; and further, to devise the best mode of providing for the cure of souls

with special reference to the residence of the clergy on their respective benefices. These commissioners made four reports, recommending various alterations, and the appointment of permanent commissioners, for the purpose of preparing and laying before the sovereign in council such schemes as should appear to them to be best adapted for carrying those recommendations into effect; the Crown being empowered to make orders ratifying such schemes, having the full force of law. The statute above mentioned was passed in consequence; and under its provisions a great many beneficial alterations have been and are being effected. The recommendations contained in the four reports of the original commissioners have also been carried out, with certain modifi. cations and amendments, to which the sanction of Parliament was required and obtained (see 1 & 2 Vict. cc. 30, 106, 108; 2 & 3 Vict. cc. 9, 14; 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113; 4 & 5 Vict. c. 39; 6 & 7 Vict. c. 77; 10 & 11 Vict. cc. 98, 108; 13 & 14 Vict. c. 41; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 50). The chief features of the alterations thus effected are the equalisation of the territorial extent of the dioceses, the creation of the new sees of Ripon and Manchester, and the union of the sees of Gloucester and Bristol. The revenues of the sees have also been equalised, by augmenting the income of the smaller out of the revenues of the larger. Cathedral and collegiate bodies have also been regulated. The powers and constitution of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have been amended by the stat. 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, s. 78: and by the appointment of Church Estates Commissioners, who are ex officio members of the Ecclesiastical Commission (13 & 14 Vict. c. 94; 14 & 15 Vict. c. 104; 19 & 20 Vict. c. 74); and, lastly, by the transfer to them of the powers of the Church-Building Commissioners. ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. Tribunals in which the archbishops and bishops exercise jurisdiction over matters within their control. Long previous to the Conquest, during the reigns of the Danish and Saxon kings, the bishops and clergy held synods or councils. (See Sir H. Spelman, Wilkins' Concilia,' Johnstone's 'Canons and Constitutions.") The bishops also assisted as counsellors in the national Witten-gamotte (the antetype of our parliament), and assisted in common with the shire-reeves, or sheriffs, in the administration of justice. Shortly after the Conquest, William promulgated a charter, whereby he severed civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, thereby creating for the latter a distinct and independent authority, and a law was passed to the effect that no bishop should take cognisance of secular matters, and that no lay tribunal should take cognisance of matters affecting the clergy or relating to the church. Hence may be traced the origin of the present several ecclesiastical courts throughout the land, and their independent jurisdiction has from time to time been confirmed by canons, emanating it is true from ecclesiastical authority, but applied by legislative enactment, sometimes restraining their power, at others confirming and enlarging it. (For example, see 13 Edw. I. st. 4, c. 1; 9 Edw. I. st. 1, c. 1; 50 Edw. III. c. 4; 2 & 3 Edw. VI. c. 13; and Coke's 'Inst.,' 663.)

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It was the policy of the early English monarchy to foster the power of the church as a check to that of the barons or nobles of the land, who struggled to interpose the principles of the feudal law as a barrier to regal assumption. But the sovereign found that the ecclesiastical authority, culminating as it did in the Pope of Rome, he being the ultimate appellee, interfered with, if it did not usurp, his function of government, in as much as it declared the clergy amenable to the ecclesiastical authority alone, be their offence what it might; and thus Henry II. caused to be framed, as a check, the Constitutions of Clarendon,' whereby the clergy were made amenable to the secular power in secular matters. But the ecclesiastical courts still retained full power to adjudicate upon all matters affecting the clergy in their peculiar vocation, and also upon all spiritual matters affecting the laity (which, in their language, concerned the health of the soul). And thus, even after the Reformation, numbers of persons, even in Protestant times, were sent to the dungeon and the faggot for heresy or unsound doctrine, by these tribunals, from which there was no appeal, and where ofttimes prejudice and zeal usurped the province of justice.

As far back as July, 1830, a Commission was appointed to inquire into the practice and jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts in England and Wales. The report of the Commissioners, which was presented in 1881, was signed by the archbishop of Canterbury, and three of the bishops, the two chief justices, the chief baron, and several other persons of authority and eminence. This report gives the most correct and authentic account which exists of-1. The nature of the ecclesiastical courts; 2. Of the course of proceeding in ecclesiastical suits; and 3. The nature of the processes, practice, and pleadings of the ecclesiastical courts. Other commissions were appointed by the Crown, and bills have been brought into Parliament from time to time; and in consequence a great change has at length been effected with regard to the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts: they no longer can take cognisance of testamentary causes, nor do they any longer retain the right to grant probate of a will or letters of administration. The act of Parliament, 20 & 21 Vict. c. 77, which came into operation on the 11th of January, 1858, has transferred the voluntary and contentious jurisdiction in relation to the granting or revoking wills and letters of administration to a newly constituted court, called the "Court of Probate," its functions to be exercised in the name of the Sovereign, in such place as the

Sovereign in council shall from time to time appoint. At present the court sits in Westminster Hall. So also by the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 85, are they deprived of their jurisdiction over questions of marriage and divorce. The power of granting judicial separations (similar to those à mensa et thoro, but more remedial in their effect) is now vested in the crown, as also the power of dissolving a marriage. [DIVORCE.] The court styled Her Majesty's Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes alone administers matrimonial law, subject to an appeal to the House of Lords. The archbishops and bishops, however, still retain their privilege of granting licenses to marry without publication of

banns.

By these enactments the ecclesiastical courts have lost the most important of their functions, but they still retain exclusive cognisance of all spiritual matters concerning the clergy, such as the preaching or publishing of unsound doctrine, that is, anything repugnant to the articles or doctrine of the Church of England; and also their discipline, that is, their moral conduct and mode of life; also whether the performance of the church service is at variance with the injunctions of the rubric. (The Church Discipline Act, 3 & 4 Vict., c. 86, defines and regulates the mode of procedure against offending clergymen, although its provisions are by no means perfect in attaining its object). They also can inquire into the refusal of a bishop to institute the presentee of a patron to a living by the form of a proceeding known as a duplex querela; non-payment of church-rates, repair of churches and faculties for their alteration, the extension and violation of graveyards, or the removal of bodies; the right to pews, whether merely a possessory right or one confirmed by title or presumption; brawling, that is, violent behaviour in the church; non-payment of tithes (where there is no modus or prescription, in which case the matter is for the temporal courts); simony, also a matter for temporal cognisance, as regards a layman. These are questions within the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts, to which might be added incontinence, swearing, drunkenness, absence from church, and other matters which, in former times, it was deemed the duty of Mother Church to restrain and punish; but such proceedings have fallen into desuetude.

The ordinary ecclesiastical courts are: 1. The Provincial Courts, being, in the province of Canterbury, the Court of Arches, or Supreme Court of Appeal, the jurisdiction of which is settled by 23 Hen. VIII. c. 9, and the Court of Peculiars; and in the province of York, the Chancery Court. 2. The Diocesan Courts, being the consistorial court of each bishop, exercising general jurisdiction; the court or courts of one or more commissaries appointed by the bishop, or fixed by custom, in certain dioceses, to exercise general jurisdiction, within prescribed limits; and the court or courts of one or more archdeacons or their officials, who exercise general or limited jurisdiction, according to the terms of their patents, or to local custom. 3. There are also Peculiars of various descriptions in most dioceses, and in some they are very numerous royal, archiepiscopal, episcopal, decanal, sub-decanal, prebendal, rectorial, and vicarial.

of ecclesiastical law; but in matters of importance the case is generally sent to the Arches Court by letters of request. The Archdeacon's Court is generally subordinate, with an appeal to the Bishop's Court; though in some instances it is independent and co-ordinate.

The Archdeacons' Courts, and the various Peculiars already enumerated, in some instances take cognisance of all the ecclesiastical matters arising within their own limits, though the jurisdiction of many of the peculiar courts extends only to a single parish: the authority of some of them is limited to a part only of the matters that are usually the subject of ecclesiastical cognisance; several of the peculiars possess voluntary but not contentious jurisdiction.

The total number of courts which exercise any species of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England and Wales is 372, which may be classed as follows:Provincial and diocesan courts 36 Courts of bishops' commissaries Archidiaconal courts

Royal

Peculiar Jurisdictions.

Archiepiscopal and episcopal Decanal, subdecanal, &c. Prebendal

Rectorial and vicarial

Other peculiars

Courts of lords of manors.

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The amount of compensation awarded to the judges, registrars, and
other officials of the several courts abolished by the late Acts, taking
the half of an average of fees, &c. for the five years preceding 11th
January, 1858, amounted, for England to 40,950l. 14s. 8d., and to the
proctors 60,3041. 9s. 9d; for Ireland, judges, &c., 7719l. 9s. 8d.; proctors,
87171. 188. 2d., making in the whole 117,7821. 128. 3d., payable in the
shape of annuities.

The canon law has been practised in the ecclesiastical courts as a
distinct profession for upwards of three centuries; but owing to recent
changes by taking from those courts their testamentary and matri-
monial jurisdiction, it is scarcely probable that any body of professional
men will henceforth devote themselves exclusively to those tribunals.
The courts, together with that of the Admiralty, have hitherto sate in
the College of Advocates at Doctors' Commons, where also, in close
contiguity to the court, have resided the judges and advocates. The site
of the building was purchased by some members of this body in 1567.
[DOCTORS' COMMONS.] The members of the society were incorporated
in 1768 by a royal charter, under the name of 'The College of Doctors
of Laws exercent in the Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts.' The
proctors discharge duties similar to those of solicitors and attorneys in
other courts. [PROCTOR.]

The Provincial Courts of the archbishop of Canterbury, and the
archbishop of York, are independent of each other; the process of one
province does not run into the other, but is sent by a requisition from
the court of one province to the local authority of the other, for
execution, when it is necessary. The appeal from each of the pro-gate decrees the party to be cited; to which, in certain cases, is added
vincial courts lies to the sovereign, represented by the Judicial Com-
mittee of Privy Council; but before the passing of the statute 2 & 3
Will. IV., c. 92, a commission issued under the Great Seal in each
individual case of appeal, to certain persons or delegates, to hear and
determine the matter in contest. [DELEGATES, COURT OF.]

Of the three Archiepiscopal Courts of Canterbury, the Arches Court is the first [ARCHES, COURT OF,] (deriving its title from the place where it originally sat, Bow Church, St. Mary de arcubus). It is presided over by a functionary, styled the "Dean of the Arches," appointed by the archbishop of Canterbury. This court exercises appellate jurisdiction from each of the diocesan and most of the peculiar courts within the province. It may also take original cognisance of causes by letters of request, from each of those courts. The Court of Peculiars, thirteen of which are in the Province of Canterbury, is the third Archiepiscopal Court of Canterbury, it takes cognisance of all matters arising in those Peculiars, among which are the Deaneries of London, Rochester, and Winchester; and some others, over which the archbishop exercises ordinary jurisdiction, and which are exempt from and independent of the several bishops within whose dioceses they are locally situated.

The province of Canterbury includes twenty-one dioceses. The Archbishop's Court (that is, the Arches Court), does not exercise ordinary episcopal jurisdiction, and therefore a commissary is appointed for that purpose, which stands on the same footing as the ordinary consistory of a bishop. Thus the ordinary episcopal jurisdiction is exercised by the commissary, in the same manner as in other dioceses.

The province of York includes five dioceses, besides that of Sodor and Man, the archiepiscopal jurisdiction is exercised therein much in the same manner as in the province of Canterbury.

The Diocesan Courts take cognisance of all matters arising locally within their respective limits, with the exception of places subject to peculiar jurisdiction. They may decide matters of spiritual discipline; suspend clergymen from their office, and administer the other branches

The course of proceeding in these courts is as follows:-The mode of commencing the suit, and bringing the parties before the court, is by a process called a Citation, or summons. This citation, in ordinary cases, is obtained as a matter of course, from the registry of the court, and under its seal; but in special cases, the facts are alleged in what is termed an act of court, and upon those facts the judge or his surroan intimation, that if the party does not appear, or appearing does not show cause to the contrary, the prayer of the plaintiff, set forth in the decree, will be granted. The party cited may either appear in person, or by his proctor, who is appointed by an instrument, under hand and seal, termed a proxy. The proctor thus appointed represents the party, acts for him and manages the cause, and binds him by his acts. The mode of enforcing all processes, in case of disobedience, is by pronouncing the party cited to be contumacious; and if the dis obedience continues, a significavit issues, upon which an attachment from Chancery is obtained, to imprison the party till he obeys. In cases where some act is required to be done by the party cited, the compulsory process is enforced; but in some cases, where no act is necessary to be done by the party cited, the plaintiff may proceed in pænam contumacia, and the cause then goes on ex parte, as if the defendant had appeared. The party cited, to save his contumacy, may appear under protest, and may show cause against being cited; such as, that the court has no jurisdiction in the subject-matter, or that he is not amenable to that jurisdiction: this preliminary objection is heard upon petition and affidavits; and either the protest is allowed, and the defendant is dismissed, or the protest is overruled, and the defendant is assigned to appear absolutely; and costs are generally given against the unsuccessful party. Each party may appeal from the decision on this preliminary point; or the defendant, in case the judge decides against him on the question of jurisdiction, and on some other questions, may apply to a court of law for a prohibition.

The form of the pleadings is next to be described. These are intended to contain a statement of the facts relied upon and proposed to be proved by each party in the suit, the real grounds of the action, and of the defence.

Causes, in their quality, are technically classed and described as plenary and summary, though in modern practice there is substantially little difference in the mode of proceeding. All causes in the Prerorative Court are summary.

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The first plea bears different names in the different descriptions of causes. In criminal proceedings, the first plea is termed the Articles; in form, it runs in the name of the judge, who articles and objects the facts charged against the defendant; in plenary causes, not criminal, the first plea is termed the Libel, and runs in the name of the party or his proctor, who alleges and propounds the facts founding the demand. Every subsequent plea, in all causes, whether reponsive or rejoining, and by whatever party given, is termed an Allegation.

Each of these pleas contains a statement of the facts upon which the party founds his demand for relief, or his defence; they resemble the bill and answer in equity, the allegation is divided into separate positions or articles: the facts are alleged under separate heads, according to the subject-matter, or the order of time in which they have occurred. Under this form of pleading the witnesses are produced and examined only to particular articles of the allegation, which contain the facts within their knowledge in private by an appointed examiner of the court; their evidence is taken down and produced on the hearing; a notice or designation of the witnesses is delivered to the adverse party, who is thereby distinctly apprised of the points to which he should address his cross-examination of each witness, as well as the matters which it may be necessary for him to contradict or explain by counter-pleading.

Before a plea of any kind, whether articles, libel, or allegation, is admitted, it is open to the adverse party to object to its admission, either in the whole or in part: in the whole, when the facts altogether, if taken to be true, will not entitle the party giving the plea to the demand which he makes, or to support the defence which he sets up; in part, if any of the facts pleaded are irrelevant to the matter in issue, or could not be proved by admissible evidence, or are incapable of proof. These objections are made and argued before the judge, and decided upon by him, but his decision may be appealed from. For the purpose of the argument, all the facts capable of proof are assumed to be true; they are however so assumed merely for the argument, but are not so admitted in the cause; for the party who offers the plea is no less bound afterwards to prove the facts, and the party who objects to the plea is no less at liberty afterwards to contradict the facts. If the plea is admitted, the further opposition may be withdrawn if the plea is rejected, the party who offers it either abandons the suit, or appeals against the rejection, in order to take the judgment of a superior tribunal. When a plea has been admitted, a time, or term probatory, is assigned to the party who gives the plea, to examine his witnesses; and the adverse party is assigned, except in criminal matters, to give in his answers upon oath, to his knowledge or belief of the facts alleged. The defendant may proceed then, if he thinks proper, or he may wait until the plaintiff has examined his witnesses, to give an allegation controverting his adversary's plea. This responsive allegation is proceeded upon in the same manner; objections to its admissibility may be taken, answers upon oath be required, and witnesses examined. The plaintiff may, in like manner, reply by a further allegation; and on that, or any subsequent allegation, the same course is pursued,

In taking evidence, the witnesses are either brought to London to be examined, or they are examined by a commission near their places of residence. Their attendance is required by a Compulsory, somewhat in the nature of a subpoena, obedience to which is enforced in the same way as in other cases of contumacy. The examination is by depositions taken in writing and in private by examiners of the court, employed for that purpose by the registrars. The examination does not take place upon written interrogatories previously prepared and known; but the allegation is delivered to the examiner, who, after making himself master of all the facts pleaded, examines the witnesses by questions which he frames at the time, so as to obtain, upon each article of the allegation separately, the truth and the whole truth, as far as he possibly can, respecting such of the circumstances alleged as are within the knowledge of each witness. The cross-examination is conducted by interrogatories addressed to the adverse witnesses, and when the deposition is complete, the witness is examined upon the interrogatories delivered to the examiner by the adverse proctor, but not disclosed to the witness till after the examination in chief is concluded and signed, nor to the party producing him till publication passes; and each witness is enjoined not to disclose the interrogatories, nor any part of his evidence, till after publication. In order that the party addressing the interrogatories may be the better prepared, the proctor producing the witness delivers, as before stated, a designation, or notice of the articles of the plea on which it is intended to examine each witness produced.

The examination and cross-examination of witnesses are kept secret until publication passes; that is, until copies of the depositions may be had by the adverse parties, after which either party is allowed to except to the credit of any witness, upon matter contained in his deposition. The exception must be confined to such matter, and not made to general character, for that must be pleaded before publication; nor can the exception refer to matter before pleaded, for that should be contradicted also before publication. The exception must also tend to show that the witness has deposed falsely and corruptly. The exceptive allegations are proceeded upon, when admitted, in the same manner as other pleas. They are not frequently offered, and are always received with great caution and strictness, as they tend more commonly to pro

tract the suit and to increase expense than to afford substantial information in the cause. It is, however, in the power of the court to allow further pleading by way of additional articles; and if new circumstances of importance are unexpectedly brought out by the interrogatories, the court will, in the exercise of its discretion, allow a further plea after publication. This may also be permitted in cases where facts have either occurred or come to the knowledge of the party, subsequently to publication having passed.

The evidence on both sides being published, the cause is set down for hearing. All the papers, the pleas, exhibits (or written papers proved in the cause), interrogatories, and depositions, are delivered to the judge for perusal before the case is argued by counsel. All causes are heard publicly in open court; and as in other courts, the counsel state their respective cases. The evidence is then read, unless the judge signifies that he has already read it, and even then particular parts are read again if necessary. The judgment of the court is then pronounced upon the law and facts of the case; and in doing this, the judge publicly, in open court, assigns the reasons for his decisions, stating the principles and authorities on which he decides the matters of law, and reciting or adverting to the various parts of the evidence from which he deduces his conclusions of fact, and thus the matter in controversy between the parties becomes adjudged.

The execution of the sentence, in case there be no appeal interposed, is either completed by the court itself, according to the nature of the case, and execution is enforced by the process of contumacy, significavit, and attachment; but this can only be done by calling in the aid of the Court of Chancery. Ecclesiastical courts, not being courts of record, have no power to commit of their own authority. The ques tion of costs in these courts is, for the most part, a matter in the discretion of the judge, according to the nature and justice of the case; and the reasons for granting or refusing costs are publicly expressed at the time of giving the judgment.

Attempts were made more than three centuries ago to remedy the defects of the ecclesiastical courts. The earliest efforts of this kind were directed to the peculiar jurisdictions. Some of these jurisdictions extend over large tracts of country, and embrace many towns and parishes; others comprehend several places lying at a great distance from each other; and some only include one or two parishes. The jurisdiction to be exercised in these courts is not defined by any general law, and it is often difficult to ascertain to what description of cases the jurisdiction of any particular court extends. The commissioners appointed to revise the ecclesiastical laws, in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., recommended that the power of the bishop, in matters of discipline, should extend to all places in the diocese, notwithstanding the exemptions and privileges of Peculiars. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was proposed or talked of in convocation that parliament should be applied to, to subject peculiar and exempt rights and jurisdictions of what had belonged to monasteries to the diocesan. Nothing, however, appears to have been done until, in 1857, the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 77, and c. 85, were passed, directing the sweeping changes before named. For full information on the constitution and practice of these courts, see the report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners published in 1832, and Coote's Ecclesiastical Practice.' ECCLESIA'STICUS, or THE WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRAC, an apocryphal book of the Old Testament. It is stated to have been originally written in Syro-Chaldaic, by Jesus, the son of Sirac, a learned Jew, who travelled in pursuit of knowledge 130 years B.C. It was translated into Greek for the use of the Jews of Alexandria, by the grandson of the author, or rather compiler, for it is evidently a collection of fragments, written at different times and on various occasions, consisting of meditations and proverbs relating to religion, morals, and the general conduct of human life. But though it is manifest that no methodical plan or arrangement was observed in the composition, the commentators remark that the whole will admit of division into three parts. The first extends to the end of chap. 43, and is occupied in the commendation of wisdom and the statement of moral precepts. The second celebrates the virtues of the patriarchs and prophets of the Jews, and extends to the end of chap. 49. The third part is comprised in the 50th and concluding chapter, and consists of a prayer or hymn, exhorting mankind to the pursuit of wisdom. These meditations display much acuteness of thought, with propriety of diction, and occasionally poetical eloquence. They closely resemble the numerous other oriental proverbs, and especially the collection attributed to Solomon. In the western Christian church this book was highly esteemed; the council of Carthage made it canonical, as the fifth book of Solomon, and the council of Trent confirmed the decision. It was also introduced by the early Protestant reformers into the liturgy of the church of England.

Addison, in the 68th number of the Spectator, observes, that were this collection issued under the name of Confucius, or one of the sages of Greece, it would be regarded as one of the most brilliant moral treatises ever published. The opinion which attributes it to Solomon is falsified by several allusions to the captivity, showing that some parts at least were written under the monarchs of Babylon (c. 47, &c.), 400 years subsequent to the reign of Solomon. The Greek fathers frequently cite the book of Ecclesiasticus as 'Inooû Zopía, the Wisdom of Jesus; Пavápeтos Zopia, the Excellent Wisdom; and Aóyos, the Rational Discourse. The Latin fathers named it Ecclesiasticus, or the Book of

the Church, from its being then appointed to be read in churches. A Syriac and an Arabic version are extant. The Latin version, which is supposed to be of the first century, contains numerous words adopted from the Greek, but differs much from the present Greek text. (Ecclesiasticus, or the Book of the Church, by Luke Howard, F.R.S., 1827; Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, Wisdom of Solomon, or Ecclesiasticus, 1755; Sonntag, Comment. de Jesu Siracidæ Ecclesiastico, 4to., 1792; Bretschneider, de lib. Jesu Siracida (prolegom. pp. 10-32), dates the original compilation 180 B.C.; Horne's Introduct to the Bible, vol. iv.) E'CHEVIN, the name given under the old French monarchy to the municipal magistrates of various cities and towns. At Paris there were four échevins and a prévôt des marchands, whose jurisdiction extended over the town and adjacent territory; in the other towns there was a maire and two or more échevins. In the south of France the same officers were called by other names, such as consuls in Languedoc and Dauphine, capitouls at Toulouse, jurats at Bordeaux. The last name, that of jurats, is retained in some of the English municipalities. They tried minor suits, laid the local duties or octroi upon imports, had the inspection of the commercial revenues and expenditure, as well as the superintendence of the streets, roads, and markets, the repairs of public buildings, &c. The name échevins seems to have been derived from scabini, a Latin word of the middle ages, which was used in Italy under the Longobards, and in France, Flanders, and other countries under the Carlovingian dynasty. In Holland they are called schepens. The scabini were the assessors to the counts or missi dominici, appointed by the monarch to administer a province or district; and they were chosen among the local inhabitants. Afterwards, when charters were given to the communes, the municipal magistrates elected by the burgesses assumed also the name of scabini or échevins. (Ducange, 'Glossarium.')

ECHO. (x, xos, sound). When sonorous undulations are propagated from any origin through the elastic medium of the air, the spherical wave-like surface then conveys the sound through the circumjacent space, and moves from its origin and centre with a velocity of about 1125 feet in a second, at the ordinary atmospheric pressure and temperature; for the velocity of undulations propagated through elastic media depends only on their indices of elasticity and not on their intensity. [ACOUSTICS.]

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When a sound originates at a point o, and is reflected by a plane obstacle a C, the reflected pulsation of the air occupies the space of a conical frustum a Acc, the vertex of the cone R being situated symmetrically with o at the opposite side of a C. In order that a person may hear the echo of his own sounds, it is therefore necessary that his situation may be a point o' in a perpendicular to AC; and that a second person may hear the echo of the voice of another at o, he must be situated in the frustum a ACC, so that the angles of incidence and reflection of the sound which reaches his ear may be equal, as in the case of the reflection of light, and the impact of perfectly elastic bodies [LIGHT; COLLISION]; in both cases the distance from AC must be sufficiently great to distinguish between the original and the reflected sound.

The echo of a continued sound or note may be heard in the inverse order of time to that in which it was generated, provided the origin of the sound moves more rapidly towards the hearer than the rate at which sound travels. Thus a flash of lightning moving towards a person will produce a roll of thunder which, echoed by clouds, will be heard as it were backwards; but if the direction of the flash be such that the points of its course are nearly equidistant from the auditor, an instantaneous and intensely loud clap will be substi tuted for a continued roll.

The murmuring sound produced by the discharge of great guns is the succession of echoes from the particles of vapour floating in the atmosphere, and when the discharge is effected under a dense cloud, the echoes are stronger and better reflected, and a noise resembling a thunder-roll may then be heard. The whizzing of a bullet is attributed to its impinging in a state of rapid rotation on particles of vapour. The time intervening between the primitive sound and its echo has sometimes been employed in determining the distance from the observer to the reflecting object, allowing 571 feet for each intermediate second of time; but like all methods dependent more on individual judgment than mechanical measurement, this process must be liable to considerable irregularities.

When several objects reflect sound, the number of echoes is greatly multiplied, not only from the primary echoes of each, but also from secondary and tertiary echoes by second and third reflections of returning waves against the reverberatory obstacles; each re-echo consists of only portions or frusta of the preceding; their intensities therefore diminish, and they gradually die away upon the ear, in the same manner that the images become obscure and by degrees imperceptible in consequence of the diminution of light when we look between two opposite and parallel plane mirrors. The reflecting plane, however, must be at a great distance in order to produce polysyllabic echoes. At Woodstock is one repeating from seventeen to twenty syllables, and the Swiss mountaineers sing their Ranz des Vaches, so that the echoes form an accompaniment to the tune itself.

The first echo heard in such circumstances is by no means necessarily the loudest. Taking any ellipse of which one focus is the origin of the sound and the other the place of the auditor, it is a wellknown property of this curve that right lines drawn from the foci to any point in it make equal angles with the tangent at that point. Conceive now this ellipse to rotate round the line joining the foci so as to form a prolate spheroid, then sound emanating from one focus and reflected by a portion of the surface will be directed after reflection to the other, and its intensity will depend on the solid angle subtended at the focus by the reflecting body. Each echoing body may be con

Suppose the point o to be the origin of a sound which in its pro-ceived as a portion of such a spheroidal surface, taking a large axis gress encounters a plane obstacle NM; if this plane be sufficiently extended, a point м may be easily found which the sound will have just reached at the end of a given time. The waves which have viously reached the nearer points A, B, C, being precluded from advancing, are there reflected according to the usual law of reflection of light, that is, new spherical undulations a'ab, bbc, c'cd are generated from A, B, C as centres, and their radii at the moment we have spoken of are respectively Ab-OM- OA, BCOM — - OB, Cd=OM Oc, and it is easily seen that all these spherical surfaces originating from á up to M and existing simultaneously, may be exactly enveloped by a single portion of a spherical surface of which the centre is placed in a position R corresponding to o in respect to its distance from NM, but at the opposite side of the obstacle; this spherical surface, of which the radius is RM, is the true returning wave at that moment, and

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major to comprehend the more distant bodies; and since the sum of the solid angles subtended by the more distant reflectors may be greater than those given by the nearer, the echo produced by them, though not reaching the ear so soon as that of the nearer, may, under such circumstances, be louder. We must, however, bear in mind in our estimate that this intensity has a source of diminution in the increase of distance. This case frequently occurs in places encompassed by chains of mountains, as at Killarney and the Welsh lakes, &c. rapid, a continued sound or note may be produced, though the original When the succession of echoes from several bodies is sufficiently sound was merely momentary; and when not sufficiently rapid for this purpose, a clamorous noise is produced, and hence Echo with her thousand tongues and babbling propensities has furnished matter for poetic imagination from Ovid to Shakspere. Hence, Echo has been called the shadow of a sound," "a voice without a mouth, and words without a tongue." Echo too, though represented as a female, never speaks until she is spoken to, and at every repetition of what she has heard, continues to make it less, an example recommended to the special imitation of scandal-mongers. As a single ha may be converted into an imitation of a stunning laugh, the romantic and echoing regions inhabited by the Scandinavian races materially assisted their untutored imaginations in attributing this appalling music to the aerial revelries of invisible hags or witches. The blow of a hammer against one side of a parallel fissure in a rock, sometimes produces echoes sufficiently rapid in succession to give the tone of a bell, as in the Bell-rock at Tonbridge-wells.

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But when, as in the case of the electric fluid, the original cause of sound may be said to exist simultaneously through an extensive tract

being impressed on the auditory organs, so as to be distinguished from of an excited atmosphere, a sound perfectly continuous and majestic is the original sound, is called the echo.

produced in the thunder-roll, which may frequently be heard again

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