ECLIPSE 



2786 



ECONOMIC MAN 



cycle, known as the saros, of a little 

 over 18 years of eclipses, and it was 

 due to a knowledge of this fact that 

 the ancients were able to predict 

 eclipses of the moon, though since 

 eclipses of the sun are very rare at 

 any given place on the earth's sur- 

 face, the similar sun cycle was 

 overlooked. 



Eclipses of the sun have been 

 fruitful in discovery. The eclipse of 

 1868 resulted in the discovery of 

 helium m the sun, 27 years before it 

 was found to be a constituent of one 

 of the rare earths, cleveite, while 

 the eclipse of May 29, 1919, pro- 

 vided an opportunity to prove Ein- 

 stein's generalised theory of rela- 

 tivity by showing that light was 

 attracted by the sun and deflected 

 from a straight path. 



In addition to the eclipses of the 

 sun and moon, the eclipses of the 

 satellites of Jupiter by their prim- 

 ary are of importance in astronomy. 

 It was due to the studying of these 

 eclipses, exactly analogous to the 

 eclipses of the moon by the earth, 

 that it was found light did not 

 travel instantaneously. Closer ap- 

 proximations to the velocity of 

 light and refinements in modern 

 telescopes have enabled astrono- 

 mers to use the eclipses of Jupiter's 

 satellites to obtain the distance of 

 the earth from the sun, the astro- 

 nomical unit. See Ecliptic ; Jupi- 

 ter; Moon; Occupation; Sun. 



Eclipse. English racehorse, re- 

 garded as the greatest that has 

 ever lived. Foaled April 1, 1764, 

 he was named because on that day 

 there was an eclipse of the sun. He 

 ran in his first race May 3, 1769, 

 and from then until Oct., 1770, ran 

 in 18 races, never being beaten. He 

 was bred by the duke of Cumber- 

 land, but at the time of his suc- 

 cesses was the property of D. 

 O'Kelly. After 1770 he was used 

 for stud purposes, and from him 

 a large number of racehorses are 

 descended. The horse's skeleton is 

 in the Royal Veterinary College, 

 Camden Town. 



Eclipse Stakes. Race for horses 

 of 3 years and upwards run at San- 

 down Park over a distance of 1 J m. 

 It was inaugurated in 1884 and 

 formed the first of the 10,000 

 races. Danny Maher rode the 

 winner of this event on five occa- 

 sions. One of the most popular wins 

 was that of Orme, after recovering 

 from his supposed poisoning, in 

 1892. The race was abandoned 

 during 1915-18. See Horse Racing. 



Ecliptic (Gr. ekleiptikos, relating 

 to an eclipse). Track in the heavens 

 along which the sun appears to per- 

 form its annual march. The sun's 

 motion in this connexion is only 

 apparent ; it is the motion of the 

 earth about the sun which pro- 



duces the appearance of the sun's 

 itinerary. The plane of the ecliptic 

 is the plane of the sun's apparent, 

 and of the earth's real, motion. The 

 obliquity of the ecliptic is the angle 

 (Q) the ecliptic makes with the ce- 

 lestial equator. This can be deter- 

 mined by marking the apparent 

 heights of the sun in the sky at the 

 moments of its passing the meridian 

 on June 21 and Dec. 21, and halv- 

 ing the difference in angular alti- 

 tude. In London this is about 23 

 degrees. The plane of the ecliptic 

 is subject to variation, termed the 

 secular variation of the obliquity of 

 the ecliptic. See Sun. 



Eclogite (Gr. eklogos, picked 

 out). Crystalline, foliated rock, 

 composed chiefly of omphacite and 

 red garnet, wilh quartz, horn- 

 blende, etc., as minor constituents. 

 When fractured, it presents a beau- 

 tiful appearance, the red garnets 

 sparkling in a light green matrix. 

 Most frequently occurring as ir- 

 regular masses in schist, it is found 

 in Bavaria, Saxony, Silesia, Pen- 

 nine Alps, and Scotland. 



Eclogue (Gr. ekloge, selection). 

 Pastoral poem relating the lives 

 and loves of shepherds. Properly, 

 almost identical with the idyll, 

 the term is generally restricted to 

 pastoral poems in dialogue form, 

 such as the Bucolics of Virgil. 

 Spenser set the fashion anew with 

 his Shepheards Calender, and the 

 form was much employed in the 

 artificial poetry of the 17th and 

 18th centuries. The name has some- 

 times been used for dialogue poems 

 other than pastoral, as in Phineas 

 Fletcher's Piscatory Eclogues 

 (1633) and John Davidson's Fleet 

 Street Eclogues (1893-96). 



Ecnomus. Headland on the S. 

 coast of Sicily, between Girgenti 

 and Licata. Off here in 256 B.C. the 

 Romans under Regulus utterly de- 

 feated the Carthaginian fleet. 



Ecole des Femmes, L' (The 

 School for Wives ). Five-act comedy 

 by Moliere, first produced at the 

 Palais-Royal, Paris, Dec. 26, 1662. 

 The scene is in Paris. A selfish 

 middle-aged bachelor, Arnolphe, 

 brings up a young girl, Agnes, to 

 make her his wtfe, keeping her 

 ignorant of the world ; but fails to 

 prevent her from falling in love 

 with Horace, a son of his old 

 friend Oronte. Unaware of Ar- 

 nolphe's relation to Agnes, Horace 

 reveals to Arnolphe his love story. 

 The lovers do not meet before the 

 audience until the last act. Moliere 

 acted the part of Arnolphe. 



tcole des Maris, L (The 

 School for Husbands). Three-act 

 comedy by Moliere, first produced 

 at the Palais-Royal, Paris, June 24, 

 1661. The theme of two brothers, 

 Ariste and Sganarelle, in charge of 



two wards, sisters, whom they 

 desire to marry, was suggested by 

 The Adelphi of Terence. Ariste is 

 generous as Sganarelle is mean and 

 masterful. Moliere acted the part 

 of the latter. The scene of the play 

 is kid in the French capital. 



Ecology (Gr. oikos, house ; logos, 

 discourse). Science dealing with 

 the relations of individual plants 

 to their habitats. In this connexion 

 are recognized vegetation - units 

 or plant - communities, such as 

 wood, moor, heath, implying par- 

 ticular kinds of soil as well as 

 the plants associated with it, and 

 plant associations, dealing with 

 the characteristic vegetation of 

 each unit. 



In each of these associations 

 one species usually dominates the 

 others, and according to the situa- 

 tion and soil of the unit, many 

 subordinate species will be associ- 

 ated with it which will interact 

 upon each other by competition, 

 cooperation, etc. The ecological 

 botanist maps his distinct into 

 areas, showing in each the domin- 

 ant species and the subordinate 

 species associated with it, the adap- 

 tations of the plants to their habi- 

 tat, the influence of man in culti- 

 vating or draining land, the effects 

 of the presence of herbivorous 

 mammals in pasturing, of birds in 

 dispersion of fruits and seeds, of 

 insects in pollination and defolia- 

 tion, etc. Thus ecology tries to 

 explain why certain plants are 

 successful in the struggle for 

 existence, which plants are social 

 in their habits, and which are 

 solitary, and so forth. See Botany ; 

 Cytology. 



Economic Man. Term used to 

 describe man as discussed in the 

 works of Ricardo, John Stuart 

 Mill, and other political economists. 

 He is a person who is actuated 

 solely by material interests, who 

 judges every transaction by the 

 loss or gain afforded to him. Later 

 writers have emphasised the fact 

 that man is not actuated solely by 

 material considerations, and have 

 disputed his existence. 



In the mass and in the long 

 run men tend to act along certain 

 well-defined lines, e.g. they tend 

 to cease production which does not 

 pay. Hence it is useful to conceive 

 an average man whose family is of 

 average size, whose needs are satis- 

 fied in an average way, whose work 

 yields an average return, and so on. 

 Such an imaginary economic man 

 provides a ready standard of com- 

 parison. Just as the mathema- 

 tician needs the perfect circle 

 which does not really exist, so the 

 political economist postulates an 

 economic man for the study of his 

 science. See Political Economy. 



