ERMINE. 



ERRHINES. 



9(0 



of an inch in diameter, and as this substance gave rings which 

 indicated 34 on the scale, it follows that 1 on the same scale is equal 

 to the 29,750th of an inch, or in round numbers the 30,000th part. 

 In order therefore to convert the following measurements, which are 

 selected from Dr. Young's copious table, into parts of an English inch, 

 we have only to multiply y^ by the number in the table which 

 expresses the diameter. Thus blood, diluted with water and placed 

 between two pieces of glass, exhibits the rings very finely ; this gives 

 the number 6 or 7 ; accordingly we have the diameter of its particles 

 *"" : scfeo x 7=5^, or j^,lh part of an inch. 



3 



3'5 

 4-5 

 6'5 

 6~5 

 5 

 7 



7-5 

 12 

 18 

 16 

 19 

 22 

 26 

 26 

 28 



Milk diluted (the rings indistinct) ... 

 Dust of Lycoptrdon boritla (rings very distinct) 

 Bullock's blood, from beef .... 



Smut of barley ....... 



Blood of a mouse ...... 



Human blood diluted with water . . . 



after standing some days . 6 or 

 Pus ........ 



Silk ......... 



Beaver's wool ....... 



Mole's fur ........ 



Shawl wool ....... 



Saxon wool ....... 



Alpaca wool ....... 



Farina of Laurudimu ..... 



Merino, South Down ..... 



Seed of Lyeof odium (the rings beautifully! 

 distinct) ....... f 



Southdown ewe ...... 39 



Coarse wool ....... 46 



from worsted . . . .60 



By observing the fibres which compose the crystalline lenses of the 

 eyes of fishes, Brewster was enabled to obtain some remarkable 

 result* as to their structure. They are noticed in his ' Treatise on 

 Optics,' p. 114. [DIFFRACTION.] 



KKM1XK, or KliMIN, one of the furs in heraldry, so called from 

 the Mastda erminea, whose skin furnishes it. It is represented white, 

 with black spot* or tufts. The black spots in ermine are not of 

 any determinate number, but are left to the discretion of the herald- 

 painter. 



EROS ("tpat), of the Greek mythology, Cupid or Amor of the 

 Latin, was the god of love. The Eros of the early Greeks was a very 

 different deity to the sportive god of the later mythology, or the 

 Cupid of the Romans. The first mention of Eros occurs in the 

 Theogony of Heaiod, where he is spoken of as one of the first among 

 the gods in order of time, the ruler of the minds of gods and men. 

 In the Symposium of Plato, in the Orphic Hymns, and elsewhere, he 

 is also called the eldest of the gods ; the idea in all being, that love 

 the uniter was one of the primary causes of the existence of all living 

 ;. } ., _- 



Sometimes this Eros of the early cosmogony is spoken of as self- 

 created or born without parentage. The later Eros is always regarded 

 as the son of Aphrodite, but his father U variously said to be Hermes, 

 Ares, or even Zeus. Hence there were enumerated both by Greek and 

 Roman writer* three deities, or rather three forms of the same deity, 

 bearing the name of Eros or Cupid. The Eros of the amatory poets, 

 the one usually meant when the name Eros or Cupid occurs without 

 qualification, is the son of Hermes and Aphrodite (the Mercury and 

 Venus of the Romans). The earlier Eros was represented as a young 

 man of youthful mien ; and even in later times the statues of the god 

 in temples presented the appearance of a boy of graceful well deve- 

 loped form, and tender expression. The wanton and wilful child, 

 delighting in cruel sport and wild mischief, belongs to a phase in art 

 corresponding to that of the erotic poetry ill literature. 



The Eros ot the later Greeks, and of the Romans, is still the god of 

 love, but it is love in its merely sensuous form. Yet even when the 

 original conception had become most degraded, something of the 

 nobleness and purity of -the old idea was preserved in the beautiful 

 myth of Psyche [PSYCHE] ; and in Anteros, the opposing d;cinon, the 

 avenger of neglected love, who is so frequently associated with Eros, 

 there appears to be a reference to the old idea of the sanctity of love. 



In extant works of art, Eros is frequently represented as a slender, 

 winged youth bending his bow. This is the position in which he 

 appeared in the famous bronze statue of Praxiteles described by Callis- 

 tratus, and which was regarded as one of the great sculptor's finest 

 works. There are two statues of this kind in the British Museum, and 

 several in other collections, which are considered to be repetitions or 

 imitations of the statue of Praxiteles. By later artists he was repre- 

 sented a* a boy breaking the thunderbolts of Zeus, or the insignia of 

 the other gods ; riding on a lion, or playing with and subduing other 

 wild animals, typifying in all the resistless power of love. Sometimes 

 he appears with Psyche a* a beautiful girl ; sometimes with her as a 

 butterfly. Sometimes he accompanies Aphrodite ; at others he appears 

 attended by Anteros. The later sculptors and vase painters, and gene- 

 rally the artists of the Roman, period, represented him in accordance 

 with the descriptions of the amatory poets, as a winged child armed 



with bow and arrows, as an emblem of the inspiration of love, through 

 the eye, from a distant object. Eventually they figured an unlimited 



Eros. From British Museum. 



number of Erotes, always children and almost always winged- 

 playing about in every variety of attitude, in the air and on the water, 

 as well as on land; attending Aphrodite; sporting with dolphins; 

 binding lions ; sporting with tame, or driving wild, animals ; gathering 

 fruit ; disguised as torch-bearers at weddings ; as captives, encaged, or 

 hiding in nests <uid, in short, in every way which an unrestrained 

 fancy could invent, when the religious idea had become entirely dis- 

 sociated from the deity. Athenajus (xiii. 2) quotes a beautiful passage 

 from the Phtcdrus of Alexis, to show the impossibility of representing 

 Eros to the senses. 



Thespise, on the eastern slope of Mount Helicon, was the chief seat 

 of the worship of Eros. The ancient symbol of the god was a rude 

 stone ; but afterwards Praxiteles' famous statue of Eros was placed 

 here, and attracted to Thespia; nearly as many strangers as his statue 

 of Aphrodite attracted to Cnidus. A broken stone inscribed with the 

 name of Praxiteles is said to be still remaining among the ruins at 

 Thespia:. It was at ThespiiC that the Erotidia, or games in honour of 

 Eros, were celebrated every fifth year. Nothing is known of the 

 Erotidia except that they were celebrated with great solemnity ; that 

 music and various athletic games were performed ; and that large 

 numbers of strangers flocked to Thespia! in order to be present at 

 them. At Athens the altar of Eros stood at the entrance to the 

 Academy. 



ERRHINES (from en (eV), and rhin (l>iv), ' the nose '), medicines 

 which are applied to the nostrils, and which cause an increased flow of 

 the secretion of the membrane which lines them, and often of the con- 

 tiguous cavities and sinuses ; frequently also occasioning sneezing, and 

 an unusual secretion of tears. Snuffs of different kinds are familiar 

 examples of this class of substances, and these generally cause sneezing, 

 at least when first employed ; but others, such as the turpeth mineral, 

 merely produce increased secretion of the membrane. Where sneezing 

 ensues, a considerable shock is felt over the whole frame, and of this 

 effect advantage is sometimes taken to change the action of the system, 

 or to remove morbid impressions, as when certain fits are impending, 

 or for more limited purposes, such as dislodging any foreign body from 

 the nose. The secondary effect of errhiues is more frequently desired 

 to give relief to the loaded vessels, by exciting them to increased 

 secretion. Hence they are used in various diseased conditions of. the 



