pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
ELBE (the Albis of the ancients), a large river of Europe, in Germany, which rises in the Riesen Gebirge, or Giant’s Mountains, between Silesia and Bohemia, and is known at its source by the Sclavonic name of the Labbe. Its principal sources are the White Fountain, at the base of the Schnee-Kuppe, and the eleven fountains of the Elbe in the Navarian meadow. To the number of streams which descend into Bohemia from the neighbouring mountains it owes its early increase. After its junction with the river Eger, it becomes navigable, and, entering Saxony, passes successively Dresden, Meissen, Torgau, and Wittenberg. In its course, which is northerly, it receives two other rivers, the Muldau and the Saale; and running through the territory of Magdeburg and the duchies of Mecklenburg and Launburg, it discharges itself at last into the German Ocean, about seventy miles below Hamburg, after a course of 500 miles. The Elbe has always been an important river in a military point of view. With respect to commerce, it gives to Hamburg its command of the navigation far into the interior, although the voyage is difficult, on account of the numerous sand-banks, and the occasional violence of the wind. It communicates with the Havel by the canal of Plauen, in the territory of Magdeburg; and at Hamburg it is connected in like manner with the Trave at Lubeck; it is also joined to the Weser by a canal running between Ve-gesak and Stade. Besides the natural difficulties of navigating this noble stream, the circumstance of its traversing so many different kingdoms and petty states has given rise to another, namely, the endless tolls imposed by the princes of the various sovereignties through which it passes. The congress of Vienna intended to rectify this evil; but, notwithstanding the regulations introduced, the navigation of the German rivers cannot yet be called free.
ELBERFELD, a city of the Prussian province Clewe-Juliers, of the government of Dusseldorf, and the capital of a circle of the same name. It stands on the river Wipper, which falls into the Rhine a few miles from the city. It is a place the most celebrated for its activity and progress of any in the Prussian dominions. In 1817 the houses were 2400, and the inhabitants 15,681, and in 1830 the latter had increased to 25,000. It has more than 1000 looms at work in silk goods, many mills for spinning cotton, besides machines for weaving cottons, and most of the other inventions for facilitating manufacturing operations which are known in England. The value of the goods annually produced at and near to the city is said to amount to L.l,500,000 sterling. It is the chief seat of the Rhenish company, who export the various goods of Germany to the West Indies and all parts of North and South America.
ELBEUF, a city of the department of the Lower Seine, in France, on the left bank of that river, containing 925 houses, and 6550 inhabitants, among whom are many manufacturers of the finest cloth, and of flannels, carpets, and hosiery. Long. 0. 53. E. Lat. 49. 20. N.
ELBING, a city in the province of West Prussia, and government of Dantzic, and the capital of a circle of the same name. It is situated on the river Elbing, which divides the suburb of Grubenhagen, and the part where the corn magazines are built, from the town. About five miles below the city that river joins the Nogat, which is navigable for large vessels. Elbing contains 11 churches, five hospitals, and several other public buildings, with 2110 houses and 22,200 inhabitants. It is, next to Dantzic, the greatest corn market of Europe, and a stock of wheat is generally kept there amounting to from forty to eighty thousand quarters. A great portion of the productions of Poland is exported from this city. These, besides corn, consist of potash, pearl ash, linen, wood, tallow, and wax; and that country receives a part of its supply of manufactured and coloured goods, of wine, of iron, of salt, and other articles, through the same channel. The city possesses some manufactories, such as refineries for sugar, soap-boiling, snuff-mills, breweries, and tanneries; and many ships are built and equipped. Long. 19. 16. 5. E. Lat. 54. 7. 54. N.
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ELBOW, the outer angle made by the flexure or bend of the arm. That eminence whereon the arm rests, called by us elbow, is by the Latins called cubitus, and by the Greeks oeyx¢uv, and by others oacxgaw.

Elbow is also used by architects, masons, and others, for an obtuse angle of a wall, building, or road, which diverts it from its right line.
ELCESAITES, in Ecclesiastical History, were ancient heretics, who made their appearance in the reign of the Emperor Trajan, and took their name from their leader Elcesai. The Elcesaites observed a mean between the Jews, Christians, and Pagans. They worshipped but one God, observed the Jewish sabbath, and practised circumcision and the other ceremonies of the law. They rejected the Pentateuch and the prophets; nor had they any more respect for the writings of the apostles, particularly those of St Paul.
ELCHE, a town of Spain, in the province of Valencia. It is situated on a small river that runs into the Guadarma. It is celebrated for the beauty of its palm woods, and for the exquisite marbles raised in the quarries in its vicinity. It is situated in latitude 38. ⅛9. and contains 2600 houses and 17,406 inhabitants, three monasteries, an hospital, poor-house, one Latin and three other schools. Manufactories of esparto, tanning, and soap-making, are carried on at this place.
ELDERS, or Seniors, in Jewish history, were persons the most considerable for age, experience, and wisdom. Of this sort were the seventy men whom Moses associated to himself in the government of his people; such as were those who afterwards held the first rank in the synagogue as presidents.

In the first assemblies of the primitive Christians, those who held the principal place were called elders. The word presbyter, so often used in the New Testament, is of the same signification; and hence the first council of Christians were called presbyteria, or councils of elders. Elders is also a denomination still retained in the Presbyterian discipline. The elders are officers, who, in conjunction with the pastors or ministers, and deacons, compose the consistories or kirk-sessions, meeting to consider, inspect, and regulate matters of religion and discipline. They are chosen from among the people, and are received publicly with some degree of ceremony. In Scotland, the number for each parish or congregation is indefinite, varying according to circumstances.
ELEA, or Elis, in Ancient Geography, a district of Peloponnesus, situated between Achaia and Messenia, and stretching from Arcadia to the west or Ionian Sea. It is so called from Elis, a cognominal town.
ELEATIC Philosophy, amongst the ancients, a name given to that of the Stoics, because it was taught at Eλια, in Latin Velia, a town of the Lucani.

The founder of this philosophy, or of the Eleatic sect, is supposed to have been Xenophanes, who lived about the fifty-sixth Olympiad, or between five and six hundred years before Christ. This sect was divided into two parties, which may be denominated metaphysical and physical, the one rejecting and the other approving the appeal to fact and experiment. Of the former persuasion were Xenophanes, Parmenides, Melissus, and Zeno of Elea. They are supposed to have maintained principles not very unlike those of Spinoza: they held the eternity and immutability of the world; that whatever existed was only one being; that there was neither generation nor corruption; that this one being was immoveable and immutable, and was the true God; and that whatever changes seemed to happen in the universe were to be looked upon as mere appearances and illusions of sense. However, it is supposed by some that Xenophanes and his followers, speaking metaphysically, understood by the universe, or the one being, not the material world, but the great originating principle of all things, or the true God, whom they expressly affirm to be incorporeal. Thus Simplicius represents them as merely metaphysical writers, who distinguished between things natural and supernatural, and who supposed the former to be compounded of different principles. Accordingly, Xenophanes maintained that the earth consisted of air and fire; that all things were produced from the earth; that the sun and stars sprung from clouds; and that there were four elements. Parmenides also distinguished between the doctrine concerning metaphysical objects, called truth, and that concerning physical or corporeal things, called opinion. With respect to the former, there was one immoveable principle, but in the latter, two that were moveable, namely, fire and earth, or heat and cold; and in these particulars Zeno agreed with him. The other branch of the Eleatic sect were the atomic philosophers, who formed their system from observing the phenomena of nature; of these the most considerable were Leucippus, Democritus, and Protagoras.
ELECT or Chosen (from eligo, I choose), in the Scriptures, is applied to the primitive Christians; in which sense the elect are those chosen and admitted to the favour and blessing of Christianity.

Elect, in some systems of theology, is a term appropriated to the saints, or the predestinated; in which sense the elect are those persons who are said to be predestinated to glory as the end, and to sanctification as the means.

Elect is likewise applied to archbishops, bishops, and other officers, who are chosen, but not consecrated, or actually invested with their office or jurisdiction.

The emperor is said to be elect before he is inaugurated and crowned; and a lord mayor is elect before his predecessor’s mayoralty is expired, or the sword is put in his hands.
ELECTION, the choice that is made of any person or thing by which he or it is preferred to any other. There seems this difference, however, between choice and election, that election has usually a regard to a company or community which makes the choice; whereas choice is seldom used but when a single person makes it.

Election, in British polity, is the people’s choice of their representatives in parliament. (See Parliament.) Election is also the state of a person who is left to his own free will, to take or do just what he pleases.

Election, in Theology, signifies the choice which God, of his good pleasure, makes of angels or men, as the objects of mercy and grace.

The election of the Jews was the choice God made of that people to be more immediately attached to his worship and service, and for the Messiah to be born of them. And thus particular nations were elected to the participation of the outward blessings of Christianity.

Election also, in the language of some divines, signifies a predestination to grace and glory, and sometimes to glory only. And it has been enjoined as an article of faith, that predestination to grace is gratuitous; gratia, quia gratis data. But the divines are much divided as to the point, whether election to glory be gratuitous, or whether it supposes obedience and good works; that is, whether it be before or after the provision of our obedience.
ELECTIVE, something that is done, or passes, by election.

Elective Attraction. See Chemistry.
ELECTOR, a person who has a right to elect or choose another to an office, honour, and the like.
ELECTORATE, a term used indiscriminately to signify the dignity of, or the territories belonging to, any of the electors of Germany; such as Baden, Saxony, &c. See Germany.
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ELECTRIDES, anciently islands in the Adriatic Sea, which received their name from the quantity of amber (electrum) which they produced. They were at the mouth of the Po, according to Apollonius of Rhodes; but some historians doubt their existence.
ELECTRO-MAGNETISM. See Galvanism, Magneto-Electricity, and Thermo-Electricity.
ELECTROMETER. See Electricity.
ELECTUARY, in Pharmacy, a form of medicine composed of powders and other ingredients, incorporated with some conserve, honey, or syrup, and divided into doses, like boluses.

Vossius observes, that all the remedies prescribed for the sick, as well as the confections taken by way of regale, were called by the Greeks εκλs∕yμαrα, from the verb λs∕χω, I lick ; whence, he thinks, was formed the Latin electarium, and afterwards electuarium. This conjecture he supports from the laws of Sicily, where it is ordained that electuaries, syrups, and other remedies, shall be prepared after the legal manner. The Bollandists, who relate this etymology, seem to confirm it.
ELEEMOSYNA Carucarum, or pro Aratris, in our ancient customs, a penny which King Ethelred ordered to be paid for every plough in England, towards the support of the poor. Sometimes it is also called eleemosyna regis, because first appointed by the king
ELEEMOSYNARIUS, in our old writers, means the almoner or peculiar officer who received the eleemosynary rents and gifts, and distributed them for pious and charitable purposes. There was an officer of this description in all religious houses. Formerly the bishops also had their almoners, as the king has at present.
ELEGANCE (from eligo, I choose), denotes a manner of doing or saying any thing politely, agreeably, and choicely; politely, so as to please people of delicate taste; agreeably, so as to diffuse a relish which gratifies every body; and choicely, so as to rise above the common way or mode.
ELEGIT, in Law, a writ of execution, which lies for a person who has recovered debt or damages; or upon a recognizance in any court against a defendant who is not able to satisfy the same in his goods.
ELEGY, a plaintive poem, written in a kind of stanza or verse the cadence of which is suited to the expression of mournful feelings and sentiments.
ELEMENT, in a figurative sense, is used for the principles and foundations of any art or science; as Euclid s Elements.

Elements, in Physics, the first principles of which all bodies are composed. These, it has been supposed, are few in number, unchangeable in their nature, and, by their multiform combinations, produce that endless variety of objects which we observe in the works of creation.

Elements, in Astronomy, are those principles deduced from astronomical observations and calculations, and those fundamental numbers which are employed in the construction of tables of the planetary motions. Thus, the elements of the theory of the sun, or rather of the earth, are his mean motion and eccentricity, and the motion of the aphelia. The elements of the theory of the moon are its mean motion, that of its node and apogee, its eccentricity, the inclination of its orbit to the plane of the ecliptic, and so on.
ELENCHUS, in Antiquity, a kind of ear-ring set with large pearls.

Elenchus, in Logic, by the Latins called argumentum and inquisitio, is a vicious or fallacious argument, which deceives under the appearance of a truth, and is the same with what is otherwise called sophism.
ELEPHANT. See Mammalia. Knights of the Elephant, an order of knighthood in Denmark, conferred upon none but persons of the first rank and merit It is also called the order of St Mary. Its institution is said to have arisen from a gentleman belonging to the Danish crusaders having killed an elephant in an expedition against the Saracens in 1184; in memory of which achievement King Canute instituted the order. The badge is a towered elephant, with an image of the holy virgin encircled with rays and suspended by a watered sky-coloured ribbon, like the George in England.
ELEPHANTIASIS, called also the leprosy of the Arabians, in Medicine, a chronical disease, one of the two species of leprosy which affects the whole body, where even the bones as well as the skin arc covered with spots and tumours, which are at first red, but ultimately become black.
ELEPHANTINE, a small island of the river Nile, now Geziret-el-Zahir, or the Flowery Island, distant half a stadium from Syene in Upper Egypt. The beauty of nature in this confined spot formed a strange contrast to the arid appearance of the country along the banks of the Nile. The inhabitants protected it against the inundations of the river by powerful dykes; and when the heats of summer had parched up every other part of the land, here nature appeared in all the verdure of spring, by means of artificial irrigation. This island being only one hour distant from the Cataract, became naturally the emporium of all the trade which was carried on with the inhabitants of the more southern portions of Africa. There was a city in it, of the same name, which contained a temple of Knuphis, and a nilometer, which is thus described by Strabo (xvii. 817): “The nilometer is a well or cistcm on the banks of the Nile, built of well cemented stone (cawóµw λ∕0ω). It serves to mark the height of the inundation, as the water in this well rises and falls with that of the river: there are marks on the wall which show the height of the increase, and the result of this observation is regularly published for the use of the cultivators of the ground. By this means they are able to judge to what height the inundation will rise, and thereby the labourers are enabled to regulate the proper distribution of the water. The governors of the province also regulate by this the tax imposed upon the land, for they increase it in proportion as there is an appearance of the water rising to a great height.” It is curious that neither this intelligent geographer nor any of the ancient writers have thought proper to inform us how high the Nile rose when confined within precipitous banks, as it was in this southern portion of the country. It is from Aristides, who lived in the second century, that we first learn that it rose twenty-eight cubits above the lowest water mark; yet this was not sufficient to cover the valley with water, and it is now an arid desert, incapable of cultivation. See article Egypt. Elephantine, in Roman antiquity, an appellation given to the books in which were registered the transactions of the senate and magistrates of Rome, the emperors, or the generals of armies, and even of the provincial magistrates, the births and classes of the people, and other things relating to the census. They are supposed to have been so called, from having been made of leaves of ivory or elephants’ tusks.
ELEUSIS, a city of Attica, four leagues from Athens, and close to the shore opposite the island of Salamis. Like most of the other cities of Greece, its origin is ascribed to various fabulous characters, and, among these, to Ogyges; a circumstance which at least proves it to be of the highest antiquity. In the earlier period of its history it seems to have been an independent state, and was even so powerful as to contest with Athens itself the palm of superiority. A considerable portion of its small territory was occupied by the plains of Thria, remarkable for their fertility, though the hopes of the husbandmen were not unfrequently disappointed, from the blight of the south wind. To the west was the Campus Rharius, where Ceres is said to have sown the first seeds of corn; and on its confines was the field called Orgas, planted with trees consecrated to Ceres and Proserpine. The temple of Eleusis, sacred to Ceres and her daughter, was considered as one of the most beautiful productions of the genius of Greece; it is said to have been founded by Pandion IL, and Clemens Alexandrinus places it even 120 years earlier, in the reign of Lynceus. Its position and riches naturally exposed it to the attacks of the enemies of Attica, and though defended by a strong fortress, it was seldom able to make any lengthened resistance. Cleomenes, king of Sparta, dared to violate its sacred precincts; but if we may believe the statements of the Athenians, he was soon overtaken by the just vengeance of the gods, and seized with a sudden fit of madness. The Persians burnt it to the ground after the battle of Plataea; but scarcely had they evacuated the confines of Greece, when the Athenians determined to rebuild it with even more than its original magnificence. Ietinus, the architect of the Parthenon, was ordered to draw up the plan of the new edifice. He adopted the Doric order of architecture, without the erection of pillars in front of the building. We know not whether he lived long enough to carry his plan into execution; but it was during the splendid administration of Pericles, and under the cultivated taste of Phidias, that the temple of Eleusis was completed in all its magnificence. The mystic cell was begun by Coroebus, but he lived only to finish the lower row of columns, with their architraves. Metagenes, of the district of Xypete, added the rest of the entablature and the upper row of columns. Xenocles of Cholargus built the dome on the top. A portico was long afterwards added by Demetrius Phalereus, who employed for that purpose the architect Philo. This magnificent structure continued to exist for many centuries, till the destructive hordes of Alaric completed its overthrow in the year 396. The city immediately disappeared on the destruction of the temple, which had been its ornament and principal support; and upon the site nothing is now found but a miserable village called Lessina, amidst the ruins of the sacred edifice. But the coins of Eleusis are still common, and represent Ceres drawn by dragons or serpents. The inscription is EΛETΣI, or EΛET, within a wreath of ears of corn.
ELEUTHERIA, a festival celebrated at Plataea, in honour of Jupiter Eleutherizzs, or “the assertor of liberty,” by delegates from almost all the cities of Greece. Its institution originated thus: After the victory which the Grecians under Pausanias obtained over Mardonius the Persian general, in the country of Plataea, an altar and statue were erected to Jupiter Eleutherius, who had freed the Greeks from the tyranny of the barbarians. It was further agreed upon, ih a general assembly, by the advice of Aristides the Athenian, that deputies should be sent every fifth year from the different cities of Greece, to celebrate Eleutheria, or festivals of liberty. The Plataeans celebrated also an annual festival in memory of those who had lost their lives in that famous battle. It was celebrated thus: At break of day a procession moved forward, headed by a trumpeter, who sounded a signal for battle; and after him followed chariots loaded with myrrh, garlands, a black bull, and certain free young men, no signs of servility being permitted to appear during the solemnity, because they in whose honour the festival was instituted had died in the defence of their country. They carried libations of wine and milk in large-cared vessels, with jars of oil and precious ointments; and the rear was brought up by the chief magistrate, who, although not permitted at other times to touch iron, or wear garments of any colour but white, yet on this occasion appeared clad in purple, and taking a water-pot out of the city chamber, proceeded through the middle of the town towards the sepulchres, with a sword in his hand. There he drew water from a neighbouring spring, and washed and anointed the monuments; after which he sacrificed a bull upon a pile of wood, invoking Jupiter and Mercury, and inviting to the entertainment the souls of those happy heroes who had perished on the plains of Plataea. After this he filled a bowl with wine, saying, I drink to those who lost their lives in the defence of the liberties of Greece. There was also a festival of the same name observed by the Samians in honour of the god of love. Slaves, also, when they obtained their liberty, kept a holiday, which they called Eleutheria.

L’LEUTHEROLACONES, or Independent Laconians, a name given to the twenty-four confederate towns of Laconia, the independence of which was confirmed by a decree of Augustus. At a much earlier date, when the power of Sparta had been broken and her freedom annihilated by the tyrant Nabis, Titus Quintius had detached the hamlets from all connection with Sparta, and placed them under the protection of the Achaean league. Augustus allowed these towns to be governed by their own laws, and to form a small distinct confederation. Of these twenty-four towns only eighteen are mentioned by Pausanias (iii. p. 21), probably because the others had gradually become depopulated.