ELZEVIR 



2880 



EMBANKMENT 



Elzevir. Name of a family of 

 printers which is given also to some 

 famous books printed by them, e.g. 

 pocket editions of the Greek Testa- 

 ment, Latin and Italian classics, 

 and French memoirs. The firm, 

 founded in Leiden in 1583 by 

 Louis Elzevir, was carried on 

 after 1655 at Amsterdam by 

 members of the family until 1681, 

 and ended in 1712. The first edi- 

 tion of the Caesar of 1635 is the 

 acknowledged masterpiece in type, 

 ornaments, paper, printing, and 

 purity of text. More than 150 

 spurious Elzevirs are known to 

 experts. The publications of the 

 firm dated from 1626 to 1680 are 

 generally the most valuable. See 

 Bibliotheca Curiosa: Catalogue of 

 all Publications of the Elzevier 

 Presses, E. Goldsmid, 1888. 



Emanation (Lat. emanare, to 

 flow out). In philosophy, the 

 theory that all things proceed from 

 a higher original principle (as light 

 from the sun), into which they are 

 again received and absorbed. This 

 form of pantheism, of eastern ori- 

 gin, was adopted by the neo- 

 Platonists and developed by the 

 Gnostics and Cabbalists. 



Emanuel I ( 1469-1521 ). King 

 of Portugal. Born May 3, 1469, he 

 ascended the throne in 1495. He 

 inspired the ex- 

 peditions of 

 VascodaGama, 

 Albuquerque 

 and Cabral to 

 Brazil, Goa, 

 Malacca, and 

 S u m a t r a . 

 Under his guid- 

 ance Portugal 

 became the 

 principal mari- 

 time power in 

 He died Dec. 13, 1521. 



Embalming (Fr. em, in, baume ; 

 Gr. balsamon, balm). Art of pre- 

 serving dead bodies. Among the 

 ancient Egyptians, and possibly 



Emanuel I, 

 King of Portugal 



From an old engravin 



the world. 



Emanuel, WALTER LEWIS 

 (1869-1915). British humorous 

 writer. Born April 2, 1869, in Lon- 

 don, and educated at University 

 College School and at Heidelberg, 

 in 1896 he became a solicitor, but 

 had already begun contributing to 

 humorous periodicals. In 1902 his 

 amusing comment on current mat- 

 ters, Charivaria, became a regular 

 feature in Punch. He died in 

 London, Aug. 4, 1915. His books 

 included Me and Some Others, 

 1901; A Dog Day, 1902; The 

 Dogs of War, 1906; Never, 1907 ; 

 Puck Among the Pictures, 1908 ; 

 One Hundred Years Hence, 1911. 



Emba OB YEMBA. Non-navi- 

 gable river of Central Asia, in 

 Uralsk and the Kirghiz Steppes. It 

 rises in the Mugojar hills on the E. 

 border of Uralsk to the N. of the 

 sea of Aral, flows from E. to W, 

 and falls in to theN.E. of the Caspian 

 Sea after a course of about 300 m. 



Embalming. Egyptian embalmers 

 at work, from a relief 



the Peruvians, embalming origin- 

 ated in the idea of the resurrection 

 of the body. Herodotus describes 

 three Egyptian methods. In the 

 most expensive process, after re- 

 moving the brains and intestines 

 the abdomen was rinsed with palm- 

 wine and filled with myrrh, cassia, 

 and other perfumes, and the in- 

 cision in the left flank sewn up. The 

 body was then steeped in natron 

 (native sodium carbonate) for 70 

 days, washed, and wrapped in 

 gummed linen cloths. 



A less expensive method was to 

 inject the body with Kedria (cedar 

 pitch) in order to remove the intes- 

 tines, and then steep it in natron. 

 In embalming the poor the abdomen 

 was rinsed in the substance known 

 as syrmaea and the body steeped 

 70 days in natron. Usually the 

 internal organs were embalmed and 

 placed in jars. The Egyptians also 

 embalmed cats, crocodiles, hawks, 

 and other sacred animals and birds. 

 See illus. p. 1503. 



The ancient Persians apparently 

 embalmed with wax, the Assyrians 

 with honey, and the Guanches, the 

 aborigines of the Canary Islands, 

 in the Egyptian manner. Em- 

 balming has long been practised in 

 Europe and is fairly common in the 

 U.S.A. See Burial Customs. 



Embankment. Mound of loose 

 material artificially formed, or a 

 bank supported by artificial means. 

 Embankments may be classed as 

 (a) embankments formed simply by 

 tipping material and allowing the 

 sides to assume the natural angle 

 of repose of the material of which 

 they consist, as in railway embank- 

 ments ; (b) reservoir embankments 

 for containing and resisting the 

 pressure of water ; (c) embank- 

 ments of earth or similar material re- 

 tained, supported, and protected by 

 walls, sheet piling, or other means. 



Railway embankments, which 

 consist for the most part of ma- 

 terials excavated in cuttings, serve 

 the purpose of carrying a railway 

 across a valley or depression, in 

 order to avoid steep gradients ; 

 they are also constructed to raise 



the level of railways across wide 

 plains, especially where the soil 

 becomes waterlogged, the necessary 

 materials being obtained by exca- 

 vating trenches known as borrow 

 pits on either side of the line. When 

 formed along the side of a hill a 

 side excavation is usually made, 

 the excavated material being 

 utilised to form the bank portion, 

 the sloping ground under the bank 

 being first cut into steps to prevent 

 side-slipping of the deposited 

 material. Broken stone, gravel, 

 and good sand are the best ma- 

 terials ; wet clay and surface soil 

 are liable to cause trouble and ex- 

 pense, as the initial angle of repose 

 may become much flatter. An 

 embankment should be made 

 higher than its permanent level to 

 allow for subsidence ; the allow- 







Embalming. Left, inner and, right. 

 outer bandages wrapped by the 

 ancient Egyptians round an em- 

 balmed body or mummy 



ance varies from T V to | of the 

 height. Tipping should always 

 proceed in a forward direction, as 

 materials tipped sideways are liable 

 to slip. 



In first-class work the slopes are 

 finally covered with surface soil for 

 a depth of a few inches and either 

 turfed or sown with grass seed, as 

 grass binds the surface and tends 

 to prevent washing away by rain. 

 Embankments in still water should 

 have their slopes pitched with 

 stone ; if subject to the action of 

 waves or currents they should con- 

 sist of rubble or be contained by 

 walls. When a stream of water is 

 encountered, a drain, culvert, or 

 bridge is insertedt^^Along each side 

 of an embankment a ditch is cut 

 into which surface water drains, 

 and by which it is carried and dis- 

 charged into the nearest stream. 



