ECKHARDT 



2785 



ECLIPSE 



Eckhardt, JULIUS VON (1836- 

 1908). Russo-German diplomatist 

 and author.. , Born at Wolmar in 

 Livonia, he was educated at St. 

 Petersburg and Berlin univer- 

 sities. He founded with Barens 

 the Rigasche Zeitung, a periodical 

 advocating German expansion in 

 the Russian Baltic provinces. He 

 resided in Germany from 1867, 

 and was connected with the 

 journal Grenzboten, 1867-70. A 

 noted Pan-Germanist, he was ap- 

 pointed privy councillor of Prus- 

 sia in 1884, and became German 

 consul at Tunis, Marseilles, Stock- 

 holm, Basel, and Zurich. His 

 works included The Baltic Pro- 

 vinces of Russia (2nd ed. 1871), 

 and Berlin- Vienna-Rome, in which 

 he advocated German expansion 

 by means of a customs union of 

 Central European powers. 



Eckhart, JOHANNES (c. 1260- 

 1327). German mystic and theo- 

 logian. Born at Hochheim, near 

 Gotha, he became a Dominican 

 friar, and in 1298 was prior of 

 Erfurt and provincial of Thur- 

 ingia. In 1300 he was lecturer in 

 Paris, and in 1307 he was vicar- 

 general of Bohemia and pro- 

 vincial of Saxony. He was sub- 

 sequently lecturer at Paris, Stras- 

 bourg, and Frankfort, and from 

 1320 until his death was professor 

 at Cologne. Certain expressions 

 used by Eckhart were condemned 

 as heretical, and he was suspected 

 of pantheism. But he made com- 

 plete repudiation of error and 

 submission to Rome. 



Eckhart, who is known as the 

 Master, was the founder of Ger- 

 man mysticism. His writings do 

 not present a definite system of 

 philosophy, and his teaching is 

 mainly concerned with the Divine 

 essence in all things, the relation 

 of the human soul to God, and the 

 attainment of God by casting off 

 all that hinders knowledge of God. 

 No complete Eng. trans, of his 

 works exists. For the German see 

 Deutsche Mystiker des 14 Jahrhun- 

 derts, ed. F. Pfeiffer, 2nd. ed. 1907. 



Eckington. Parish and town 

 of Derbyshire, England. It stands 

 on the Rother, 6 m. S.E. of Shef- 

 field by the G.C.R. Agricultural 

 implements are manufactured, and 

 there are coal mines in the neigh- 

 bourhood. Market day, Friday. 

 Pop. 12,164. 



Eckmiihl, BATTLE OF. Victory 

 of Napoleon over the Austrians, 

 April 22, 1809. In an attempt to 

 reopen his communications, which 

 had been broken by the French, 

 the archduke Charles emerged 

 from Ratisbon to give battle. His 

 troops were routed by Davout and 

 Oudinoj, and the whole Austrian 

 army was demoralised and forced 



across the Danube. For his part 

 in the day's success Davout was 

 created prince of Eckmiihl. 



Eclecticism (Gr. eklektikos, 

 picking out). In philosophy, a 

 method which, while not excluding 

 independent thought, selects and 

 works up into a whole what is 

 acceptable in other philosophical 

 systems. 



The most important Greek repre- 

 sentative of this practice, which 

 first made its appearance in the 

 Stoic school, was Antiochus of 

 Ascalon (1st century B.C.), the 

 head of the so-called Fifth Acad- 

 emy, whose teaching led to the 

 adoption of eclecticism by the 

 Academy in place of scepticism as 

 its ruling principle. Among the 

 Romans, Cicero, who attended his 

 lectures at Athens, although by no 

 means an original thinker, skil- 

 fully selected and combined Scep- 

 tic, Stoic, and Peripatetic doc- 

 trines. Among modern eclectics 

 Leibniz and Victor Cousin may be 

 specially mentioned. 



Eclipse (Gr. ekleipsis, failing). 

 In astronomy, the passing of one 

 celestial body between another and 

 the observer. The term is usually 

 restricted to the eclipses of the sun 

 and moon and those of the satellites 

 of planets by their primary. 



It is clear that if the earth, the 

 sun, and the moon moved in the 

 same plane, there would be an 

 eclipse each time the three were in 

 a straight line. Since, however, the 

 moon moves in an orbit inclined at 

 an angle of 5 8' to the plane of the 

 sun's path, the ecliptic (q.v. ), there 

 can only be an eclipse when the 

 three bodies are in an approximate 

 straight line at the moment the 

 moon is crossing the plane of the 

 ecliptic. The points where the 

 moon crosses the ecliptic are called 

 the nodes, and when new moon hap- 

 pens at one of these nodes there will 

 be an eclipse of the sun. When full 

 moon occurs at one of the nodes 

 the earth is between the moon and 

 the sun, and there 

 will be an eclipse 

 of the moon by 

 the earth's 

 shadow. 



The eclipse ol 

 the moon by the 

 shadow of the 

 earth will be 

 more or less 

 visible to the 

 whole side of the 

 earth turned 

 away from the 

 sun. The moon 

 casts only a re- 

 stricted shadow 

 on the earth, and 

 therefore the sun 

 will appear in 



eclipse only in the path of this 

 moving shadow. 



Owing to the refraction of the 

 sun's rays the moon is hardly ever 

 quite swallowed up in blackness. 

 The eclipses, however, of 1642, 

 1761, 1816, and Oct. 4, 1864, were 

 notable for the complete disap- 

 pearance of the moon. 



A total lunar eclipse may last 

 about 1 hour 45 minutes. If the 

 moon is not exactly at the node at 

 its eclipse, a partial eclipse may re- 

 sult, the lower or the upper limb of 

 the moon being obscured by the 

 umbra, or darker portion of the 

 earth's shadow. 



In a total eclipse of the sun by 

 the moon the diameter of the 

 moon's shadow cast on the earth 

 averages only about 150 miles and 

 sweeps across the earth from W. 

 to E. with great rapidity. The 

 eclipse can only be visible in places 

 swept by the shadow, and the 

 longest time the total eclipse of the 

 sun by the moon can be visible at 

 any place is a little more than 

 seven minutes. 



Partial eclipses occur when the 

 new moon is not quite at the node ; 

 annular or disk-like eclipses are due 

 to the fact that the moon is some- 

 times too far from the earth to hide 

 the sun entirely from the view of an 

 observer on the earth. The length of 

 the cone of the moon's shadow 

 varies with the moon's distance 

 from the sun between 230,000 and 

 238,000 miles. The moon is some- 

 times as near as 221,614 miles to 

 the earth, and sometimes 252,972 

 miles away, so causing the variation 

 both in the appearance and the 

 length of time of solar eclipses. 



The maximum possible number 

 of eclipses of the sun and the moon 

 in any one year is seven, while the 

 usual number is four. In 1920 

 there were four, two of the sun and 

 two of the moon. Although there is 

 no connexion between one eclipse 

 of the sun or moon and the one 

 immediately following, there is a 



Eclipse. Diagram showing the phases of an eclipse of 



the moon by the shadow of the earth. Above, eclipse of 



the sun by the moon. When the moon is too neat the 



sun there is an annular eclipse 



