73S 



EARTHS. 



EASTKi;. 



Report* oo the fact* and theory of earthquake phenomena have 

 appeared in thoee of the British Awociatioo for tba Advancement of 

 Science, for the year* 1850, 1861. 1854, and 1858, by Mr. Mallet and 

 hi*|*oa Dr. J. W. Mallet, to which we may refer, a* incor|>orating 

 almo*t everything that to known respecting earthquake*; and the 

 fourth include* mo*t valuable bibliography of the subject Mr. R. 

 Mallet u also the author of the article ' On Observation uf Earthquake 

 Phenomena,' in the 'Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry,' 3rd 

 edit.. Load., 1859. p. 825-343, from which the foregoing definition 

 U cited. 



From the investigation* contained or recorded in these works have 

 raulted the new sciences or department* of science termed SEISMOLOGY 

 and SQSMOMETRV, an article on which, containing abo additional fact* 

 of earthquake phenomena, will be found in it* proper place. 



EARTHS. This term is sometime* applied in chemistry to denote 

 the>xides of thoae metals of which aluminium is a type. The earths 

 are* Alumina, Thorina, Olucina, Zirconia, Erbia, and Terbia. The 

 name altalint-wrtAt is, in like manner, applied to Baryta, Strontia, 

 Lime, and Mrc****" Further information respecting these bodies 

 will be found under the respective names of the metals, AUJMISIUM, 

 THORIXUM, (.in-cixm, ZIRCONIUM, ERBIUM, TERBICM, BAHIUM, 

 STRONTIUM, CALCIUM, and MAGNESIUM. 



EASEL (derived by some from the Teutonic aid, or ad, an an), 

 the wooden frame, furnished with a set of moveable pegs, or more 

 convenient rack and uliHing ledge, on which pictures are placed while 

 being painted, and which raises or lowers them according to the artist's 

 convenience. IU antiquity is manifest, from its appearance in pictures 

 discovered in Herculancum. Several modifications have been made in 

 the form of easels and in the apparatus for raising and lowering the 

 pictures, but the principle is the same in all. 



EASEMENT (from the French words aite, aitement, ease), is defined 

 by the old law writers as a service or convenience which one neighbour 

 hath of another by charter or prescription without profit ; as a way 

 through his ground, a sink, or the like. It includes rights of way, 

 water-courses, ancient lights, and various other franchises, issuing out 

 of corporeal hereditaments, and sometimes, though inaccurately, is 

 applied to rights of common. 



At the common law these privileges (which can only be created and 

 transferred by deed) might be claimed either under an immemorial 

 custom or by prescription ; but 20 years uninterrupted and unexplained 

 enjoyment of an easement formerly constituted evidence for a jury to 

 presume that it originated in a grant by deed ; except in the city of 

 London, where the presumption of a grant from 20 years' possession 

 of windows was excluded by the custom which required that there 

 should exist " some written instrument or record of an agreement." 

 Nonuser during the same period was also considered an extinguishment 

 of the right, as raising a presumption that it had been released. 



By the statute 2 ft 3 Will. IV. cap. 71, several important alterations 

 were made with .regard lo] this description of property : 40 years' 

 enjoyment of any way or other easement, or any water-course, and 20 

 years uninterrupted " access and use of any light to and for any 

 dwelling-house," Ac., now constitute an indefeasible title, unless the 

 owner enjoys " by some consent or agreement expressly given or mode 

 for that purpose by deed or writing." The same statute also enacts 

 that nonuser for the like number of years (according to the description 

 of the particular right) shall preclude a claim to it. The custom of 

 London is indirectly excluded by this statute. 



The easements of the English correspond to the Servitutes of the 

 Roman and the Servitudes of the French and Scotch laws. The servi- 

 lities were a class of rights which gave rise to numerous complicated 

 questions. Those of road, water, light, drains, were the principal. 



(DigM. viii. De ServUmtHnu ; Code Civil, 1. ii. tit. 4, Da Servitudes; 

 Ersk. InsL, Serritudet.) 



EAST. The point of the compass which is in a direction at right- 

 angles to that of north and south, and which is to wards the right 

 hand of a spectator who faces the north. The distinction between 

 east and west must ultimately be derived from a reference to the 

 human body ; for we can only define a spectator's riyhi hand by saying 

 thai it is the hand which is not upon the same side as the heart. 



EAST INDIA COMPANY. This association originated from the 

 subscription*, trifling in amount, of a few private individuals. It 

 gradually became a commercial body with gigantic means, and next, 

 by the force of unforeseen circumstances, assumed the form of a 

 sovereign power, while those by whom it was directed continued in 

 their individual capacities to be without power or political influence ; 

 thus presenting an anomaly without a parallel in the history of the 

 world. 



The company was first formed in London in 1590, when its capital, 

 amounting to 30,000/., was divided into 101 shares. At the end of the 

 next year the adventurers obtained a charter from the crown, under 

 which they enjoyed certain privileges, and were formed into a corpora- 

 tion for fifteen years, under the title of ' The Governor and Company 

 of Merchant* of London trading to the East Indies.' Under this 

 charter the management of the company's affairs was intrusted to 24 

 members of a committee chonen by the proprietors from among their 

 own body, and thin committee was renewed by election every year. 



The first adventure of the association was commenced in 1601. In 

 the month of May of that year, five ships, with cargoes of merchandise 



and bullion, ailed from Torbay to India. The result was encouraging, 

 and between 1603 and 1013, eight other voyage* were performed, all 

 of which were highly profitable, with the exception of the one under- 

 taken in the year 1607. In the other years the clear profit* of the 

 trade varied from 100 to 200 per cent, upon the capital employed. At 

 this time the trading of the Company was not confined to the joint 

 stock of the corporation, but other adventurers were admitted, wh 

 subscribed the sums required to complete the lading of the ships, and 

 received back the amount, together with their share of the profit*, at 

 the termination of every voyage. 



The charter of the Company was renewed for an indefinite period in 

 1609, subject to dissolution on the part of the government upon giving 

 three years' notice to thai effect In 1611 the Company obtained per- 

 mission from the Mogul to establish factories in Surat, Ahiuudabad, 

 Cambaya, and Goga, in consideration of which permission it agreed to 

 pay to that sovereign an export duty upon all its shipments at the rate 

 of 8 J per cent 



After 1612 subscriptions were no longer taken from individuals in 

 aid of the joint-stock capital, which was raised to 420,0002., and in 

 1617-18 a new fund of 1,600,0001 was subscribed. This last capital, 

 although managed by the same directors, was kept wholly distinct 

 from the former stock, and the profit* resulting from it were separately 

 accounted for to the subscribers. 



The functions of government were first exercised by the Company 

 in 1624, when authority was given to it by the king to punish its 

 sen-ants abroad either by civil or by martial law, and this authority 

 was unlimited in extent, embracing even the power of taking life. In 

 1632 a third capital, amounting to 420,7007., was raised, and it* 

 management, although confided to the same directors, was also kept 

 distinct from that of the first and second subscriptions. It is uncer- 

 tain whether the capitals here severally mentioned were considered as 

 permanent investments or were returned to the subscribers at the 

 termination of each different adventure. 



A rival association, formed in 1636, succeeded in obtaining from the 

 king, who accepted a shore in the adventure, a licence to trade with 

 India, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the chartered body, of 

 whose rights this was deemed an infringement Promises indeed were 

 given that the licence should be withdrawn, but these promises were 

 never fulfilled ; and after carrying on their trade for several years in a 

 spirit of rivalry which was fatal to then* prosperity, the two bodies 

 united in 1650, and thenceforward carried on then- operations under 

 the title of " The United Joint Stock." In 1652, the Company ob- 

 tained from the Mogul the grant of a licence for carrying on on un- 

 limited trade throughout the province of Bengal without payment of 

 duties. 



Some proprietors of the Company's stock becoming dissatisfied with 

 the management of the directors, obtained from Cromwell, in 1655, 

 permission to send trading velsels to India, and nominated a committee 

 of management from their own body, for which they assumed the title 

 of " The Merchant Adventurers." The evils to both parties of this 

 rivolship soon became apparent, and in about two years from the 

 commencement of their operations the Merchant Adventurers threw 

 their separate funds into the general stock under the management of 

 the directors. On this occasion a new subscription wo* raised to the 

 amount of 786,0002. In April, 1661, a new charter was granted to 

 the Company, in which all its former privileges were confirmed, and 

 the further authority was given to make peace or war with or against 

 any princes and people " not being Christians ; " and to seize all un- 

 licensed persons (Europeans) who shall be found within the limits to 

 which its trade extended, and to send them to England. This formed 

 and continued to be the East India Company. 



The acquisition of territorial possessions, the nature of the pro- 

 ductions of such territories, and of the trade of the Company, ore 

 all explained under the head of HINDUSTAN, in GEOQ. Div, : and in 

 the separate articles BENGAL, BOMBAY, MADRAS, ASAM, SINDE, &c., 

 with the nature of the government up to the alteration made by the 

 21 ft 22 Viet cap. 106, passed August 2, 1858, by which all the terri- 

 tories heretofore under the government of the East India Company are 

 vested in her Majesty. By the act a new Secretary of State for India 

 is appointed, assisted by a council of fifteen, of whom seven are to be 

 elected by the directors of the old Company, and eight are nominated 

 by the crown. Interest at the rote of 10 per cent on the capital of 

 the old Company is charged on the revenue of India. Directors are 

 still to be elected, as before, by the proprietors, but their functions 

 extend but little beyond electing the members of the council on 

 occasion of a vacancy, and paying the dividends to the proprietors. 

 All property possessed by the Company in their corporate capacity 

 was also vested in her Majesty, and the troops employed by it were 

 transferred to her Majesty's service, and have become her Majesty's 

 Indian army. 



EASTER, Anglo-Saxon Satire, a moveable feast, held in commemo- 

 ration of the Resurrection ; being the most important and most aiu-iciit 

 in observance, it governs the whole of the other moveable feasts through- 

 out the year. In the Greek and Latin churches it is called Hour*", 

 I'atcha, originally derived from a Hebrew word signifying a passage, 

 which was the name given to the great feast of the Passover, held by 

 the Jews on the same day with that on which our Saviour held his 

 paschal feast. The etymologies of the word Easter have been various. 





