

ELAINE ^^ 



Elaine. (1) Character in La 

 Morte d'Arthur. She was the 

 daughter of King Pelles and mar- 

 ried Sir Lancelot. Their son was 

 the blameless knight Sir Galahad, 

 who achieved the Holy Grail. (2) 

 Daughter of Sir Bernard of Astolat 

 and known as the Maid of Astolat. 

 Her story appears in Tennyson's 

 Idylls of the King (q.v. ). 



Elam. Biblical name for" a low- 

 land and mountain region in S.W. 

 Persia, N. of the Persian Gulf. 

 Partly known also as Elymais, it 

 comprised the lowlands E. of the 

 Tigris, with the highlands lying 

 N. and E. Wars were frequent 

 between the Assyrians and the 

 Elamites, and Ashurbanipal con- 

 quered the latter in 644 B.C. Susa, 

 the Biblical Shushan, in Persia, 

 became the capital of the country, 

 which was watered by the Kerkha 

 (Choaspes). Its neolithic popula- 

 tion, perhaps anterior to but allied 

 with the Sumerian, developed their 

 agglutinative speech, picture-writ- 

 ing and industrial art under local 

 impulses. At one time dominating 

 Babylonia, it afterwards became 

 subject, allied or independent, and 

 experienced both Semitic and 

 Iranian infiltration. Its vigorous 

 native art excelled especially in 

 metal-casting and jewelry. See 

 Babylonia ; Mesopotamia ; Susa. 



Elamites. People of ancient 

 Elam. The ethnic relationships of 

 the Elamites await further research. 

 Although the early human remains 

 are scanty, a shortish, long-headed, 

 black-haired, glabrous stock, allied 

 to the Mediterranean brown race, 

 apparently occupied this region. 

 Semitic intermixture gave them a 

 ruling class, afterwards affected by 

 Aryan elements, resulting in the 

 racial strains discernible in the 

 early Persian domination. The 

 Elamites of Acts ii descended from 

 Jewish settlers in Shushan after the 

 exile, having no ethnic affinity with 

 the native people, whose characters 

 are now submerged under the Beni 

 Lam Arabs of the modern Persian 

 province of Arabistan. 



Elan. River of 

 S. Wales. It rises 

 on the E. boundary 

 of Cardiganshire, 

 and flows S.E. 

 through the W. por- 

 tion of Radnorshire 

 to Brecknockshire, 

 where it turns N.E. 

 to form the boun- 

 dary of these coun- 

 ties and enters the 

 Wye after a course 

 of 15m. The water- 

 sheds of the Elan 

 and Claerwen, its 

 tributary, have been 

 acquired by Bir- 



2835 



HBBBnBBBHnni 

 Elaine, the beautiful daughter of 

 King Pelles, in the Arthurian tales, 

 as depicted by Mouat Loudon 



By permission of the artist 



mingham, and three reservoirs 

 have been constructed on the Elan, 

 whence the water is carried to the 

 city by an aqueduct 74 m. long. 



Eland. Genus of large ante- 

 lopes, found only in Africa. They 

 are the largest of all the antelopes, 

 a fine bull standing nearly 6 ft. 

 high at the withers. In colour, they 

 vary from light fawn to grey, and 

 the bulls usually have a thick tuft 

 of dark hair on the forehead. Both 

 sexes bear horns, about 2 ft. in 

 length, and more or less twisted. 

 They are found in most parts of E. 

 Africa, but appear to be extinct in 

 the South. They frequent wooded 

 districts, and go in herds of fifty or 

 more. Attempts have been made 

 to acclimatise them in Great 

 Britain, where they do well in 

 parks, but they mature so slowly 

 that they cost more in food than 

 they are worth. 



Elandslaagte. Village in Natal, 

 known for an engagement in the 

 early part of the S. African War. 

 It is on the hills, 16 m. N.E. of 

 Ladysmith, 3,614 ft. above sea 



ous antelopes 

 rica 



^ ELASTICITY 



level. On Oct. 21, 1899, General 

 French, with a small force moved 

 out of Ladysraith to attack the 

 Boer positions in the hills. He had 

 with him only a few hundred men, 

 but as the artillery duel was open- 

 ing he realized that he was out- 

 numbered and telephoned back for 

 reinforcements. British battalions, 

 Gordon Highlanders and Devons, 

 were soon on the scene, also some 

 Lancers and other cavalry, and 

 the attack was pressed, the British 

 advancing in open order up the 

 hills. The Boer artillery was 

 weaker than the British, and with 

 a few casualties their position was 

 taken. Some Boers resisted, but 

 the majority rode away, while 

 about 200 were made prisoners. 

 The British lost 41 killed and 220 

 wounded ; the Boers about 250. 



Elasmobranchs (Gr. elasmos, 

 metal plate ; branchia, gills). Sub- 

 class of fishes, which includes 

 sharks and rays. They are char- 

 acterised by the possession of carti- 

 laginous or gristly skeletons, though 

 sometimes the bones are partly 

 calcified. The scales are few and 

 distant, often of a bony character, 

 and somewhat resemble the teeth 

 in structure. The external gill 

 openings are not protected by 

 plates ; the mouth is usually placed 

 on the under side ; there is no 

 swim-bladder ; and the two tail fins 

 are of unequal length. Of their four 

 orders, three are now extinct; 

 only the sharks and rays survive. 

 They are marine in habit, though 

 some occasionally ascend rivers. 



Elastic. Term more particularly 

 used for a special fabric Containing 

 strands of rubber, usually made 

 in the form of tapes, cords, and 

 bands. The word is derived from 

 an assumed Gr. form, elastikos, 

 from elaunein, to drive, set in 

 motion. See Elasticity ; Rubber. 



Elasticity. Property of matter 

 in virtue of which it resists change 

 in shape or bulk, and tends, after 

 distortion, to recover its original 

 shape or bulk when allowed to do 

 so. Fluids have no fixed shape, 

 and therefore no power to resist 

 change of shape ; they have no 

 " elasticity of form " ; but they 

 resist compression and have " elas- 

 ticity of bulk." Solids possess 

 both kinds of elasticity. __ 



An external force producing 

 distortion in a body is known as a 

 " stress " and the distortion itself 

 is called a " strain." The mathe- 

 matical theory of elasticity deals 

 with the various kinds of strain 

 which a body may suffer, and the 

 stresses corresponding thereto. If 

 the strains are small, the general 

 principle of the relation between 

 stress and strain is " Hooke's 

 Law " the stress is proportional 



