Count Esterhazy. 

 French soldier 



ESTERHAZY 



an alcohol, (2) by the action of an 

 acid chloride or the anhydride of 

 an acid upon an alcohol, or (3) by 

 treating the salt of an acid with an 

 alkyl halide, e.g. methyl acetate 

 may be prepared by treating silver 

 acetate with methyl iodide. 



Esterhazy, MARII5CHA.RLES FER- 

 DINAND WALZIN, COUNT (b. 1847). 

 French soldier. He served in 

 the regiment of 

 PapalZouaves, 

 became a 

 major in t[he 

 French army, 

 and accused 

 Captain Drey- 

 fus of writing 

 the famous 

 bordereau, or 

 document, 

 contai ning 

 military secrets, said to have been 

 communicated to the German mili- 

 tary authorities. The opinion grew 

 that Esterhazy had himself forged 

 the bordereau in Dreyfus's hand- 

 writing, and that he had supplied 

 information to Germany. He was 

 compelled to leave France when 

 the truth became known, and later 

 confessed the forgery. See Drey- 

 fus Case. 



Esterhazy de Galantha. Family 

 of Hungarian noblemen. Dating 

 back to the early 1 3th century, in 

 the 1 7th they became princes of the 

 German empire. They were great 

 supporters of the house of Haps- 

 burg and have included several 

 notable men. Among these were 

 Paul IV (1635-1713), a great gen- 

 eral in the wars against the Turks ; 

 Nikolaus Joseph (1714-90), gen- 

 eral, diplomatist, and patron of 

 art, literature, and music ; and 

 Nikolaus IV (1765-1833), founder 

 of a famous collection of pictures 

 at Vienna,who declined Napoleon's 

 offer of the crown of Hungary, 

 and supported the national Hun- 

 garian movement. 



Esther, BOOK OP. O.T. book so 

 named after the chief character in 

 the story. When Vashti, the con- 

 sort of the Persian king Ahash- 

 verdsh (Xerxes), was deposed, 

 Esther the adopted daughter of 

 Mordecai, a Jewish exile, was 

 chosen in her place. She was thus 

 enabled to frustrate the plots of 

 Haman (q.v.), a powerful enemy 

 of her people. Haman had cast 

 lots (purim) to destroy the Jews, 

 and the real purpose of the 

 book seems to be to explain the 

 origin of the Jewish festival Purini 

 (called in 2 Maccabees xv, 36, the 

 Day of Mordecai). The book of 

 Esther would seem to have been 

 written between 300 B.C. and the 

 Christian era. See Commentary 

 by T. Witton Davies in the Century 

 Bible. 



2983 



Esthonia. Republic of N.W. 

 Europe, formerly part of the Rus- 

 sian Empire. It is bounded N. by 

 the Gulf of Finland, E. by Russia, 

 S. by Latvia and the Gulf of Riga, 

 and W. by the Baltic. It com- 

 prises the N. part of Livonia, the 

 former govts. of Estland and the 

 N.W. part of Pskoff. Its area is 

 about 23,160 sq. m., and in 1920 

 its estimated pop. was 1,800,000. 

 Except in the S.E., which is hilly, 

 the mainland lies low, it is inter- 

 sected by numerous rivers and 

 streams, and much of it is swampy. 

 There are many lakes, and about 

 half of Lake Peipus lies within it. 

 About 30 p.c. is forest. The climate 

 is rather hot in the summer and cold 

 in the winter. Dago, Oesel (Ezel), 

 and other islands belong to it 



The chief occupation of the 

 people is agriculture. This is 

 conducted scientifically, with the 

 result that good crops, particularly 

 of flax, are raised from a naturally 

 poor soil, and there is a flourishing 

 livestock industry. Oil-shale in 

 rich quality is plentiful. Manu- 

 factures include iron, steel, mach- 



ESTHON1A 



were few class distinctions among 

 the Esthonians proper. 



The early history of the country 

 is obscure, but early in the 13th 

 century it was conquered by Danes 

 and Germans. The Danes founded 

 Reval in 1219, and later divided 

 the land between themselves and 

 the Germans, finally selling their 

 part of it in 1346 to the Teutonic 

 Knights who joined it up with 

 Livonia. After the dissolution of 

 the Teutonic Order in 1560, N. 

 Esthonia passed to Sweden. S. 

 Esthonia remained under Poland 

 till 1629, when the whole of Esthonia 

 became a Swedish province with Li- 

 vonia, which was ceded to Russia in 

 1 721 . German influence was always 

 strong owing to the presence of the 

 Baltic Barons, the descendants of 

 the Teutonic Knights, and of 

 numerous German settlers (Baits), 

 who called the country Estland or 

 Esthland and its natives the Ests. 

 Only after the Russian revolution 

 and the Esthonian war of liberation 

 was this German influence crushed. 



In religion the Esthonians are 

 Lutherans, except about 15 p.c. 



Esthonia. Map of the Baltic republic, which, before the Great War, was part 

 of the Russian Empire 



inery, cotton, paper, wood pulp, 

 and spirits. Esthonia carries on a 

 large transit trade, the seaport of 

 which is Reval, the capital, con- 

 nected by railway with Petrograd. 

 Baltic Port and Pernau are other 

 shipping centres. Other towns of 

 note are Narva and Dorpat, or 

 Yuriev. Arensburg and Hapsal are 

 famed for their curative mud baths. 

 The Esthonians are of Finnish 



who belong to the Greek Ortho- 

 dox Church, forming an indepen- 

 dent apostolic church of Esthonia. 

 The standard of education is 

 very high, there being hardly any 

 illiterates. Secondary education is 

 provided by numerous grammar 

 schools and lyceums. Dorpat 

 University, established by Gusta- 

 vus Adolphus in 1632, was re- 

 opened on Oct. 6, 1919, as an Es- 



origin, but about 10 p.c. of the pop. thonian university, with faculties 



are Russians, Germans, Swedes, of theology, mathematics, physics, 



etc. The pure Esthonians have a history, law, agriculture, etc. 

 language and a culture of their own. All instruction is given in Es- 



Before the Great War the upper thonian ; until recently Russian 



classes consisted chiefly of Russian and German were compulsory, 



officials and Germans, and there There is a polytechnic school in 



