EYEBR1GHT 



3057 



Eylau. Napoleon riding across the battlefield after his victory over the Russians, 

 Feb. 8, 1807. From a painting by Baron Gros 



Louvre Museum, Paris 



Eyebright (Euphrasia officina- for micrometer eye-pieces, which 

 Us). Small annual herb of the have spider-webs for measuring the 

 natural order Scrophulariaceae. A sizes of the different objects In 

 native of N. Europe, N. and W. these the flat sides are both turned 

 Asia, and N. America, it is a para- away from the eye. See Telescope, 

 site upon the roots of grasses, 

 sedges, etc. The leaves are oval or 

 lance-shaped, with cut edges, the 

 flowers small, white, veined with 

 purple, and the middle lobe of the 

 lip yellow. It grows in meadows 

 and heaths. 



Eyemouth. Burgh of Berwick- 

 shire. It stands at the mouth of the 

 little river Eye, 8 m. from Berwick, 

 and has a station on the N.B. Rly. 

 It is a fishing centre, for which in- 

 dustry there is a good harbour, 

 protected on the N. by St. Abb's 

 Head. The town hall is the chief 

 public building. Pop. 2,450. 



Eye-piece. Lens of a telescope 

 nearest to the eye. In a telescope 

 light falls in nearly parallel rays on 

 the object lens, which throws an 

 image of the field of vision. The 

 eye-piece enables the eye to form 

 an image of the image. 



The eye-pieces used with astro- 

 nomical telescopes vary in form. 

 The first telescope made by Gali- 

 leo had a bi-concave eye-piece such 

 as opera glasses now have. This 

 eye-piece is placed between the ob- 

 ject glass and the focus at which 

 the image is thrown. Convex eye- 

 pieces are placed outside the focus. 

 But both these kinds of eye-pieces 

 colour the light coming from the 

 image owing to the refraction of 

 the rays. Huygens discovered that 

 this defect might be remedied in 

 the eye-piece by employing two 

 plano-convex lenses, both with the 

 flat sides towards the eye, the larger 

 placed nearer the image, and the 

 Smaller nearer the eye. This con- 

 struction is in general use, except piece ; F, focus ; B, object lens 



Eyebright. Foliage and flowers of 

 Euphrasia officinalis 



Eye- Witness. Pseudonym of 

 Col. W. S. Swinton (q.v.) He was 

 the first to write accounts of mili- 

 tary operations in France and Flan- 

 ders for the press, under official 

 sanction, during the early part of 

 the Great War (1914-15). 



Eylau. Town of Prussia. It 

 stands on the Pasmar, about 24 

 m. from Konigsberg, and is noted 

 for the battle fought here, Feb. 8, 

 1807, between the French under 

 Napoleon, and the combined Rus- 

 sians and Prussians. After his de- 



EYRE 



feat at Pultusk, Dec. 26, 1806, 

 Bennigsen, who, pursued by Na- 

 poleon, had begun to retreat upon 

 Konigsberg, decided to make a 

 stand at Eylau. In an engagement 

 on Feb. 7, 1807, Bagration and 

 Barclay de Tolly, after several 

 assaults by the French, were forced 

 to abandon the village. 



In a snowstorm on the morning 

 of the 8th the battle developed. 

 The emperor could only bring into 

 the field Augereau's and Soult's 

 corps, together with six divisions of 

 Murat's cavalry ; his other troops 

 were hurrying up over snow-bound 

 roads. An advance by the French 

 from Eylau was beaten back and 

 the Russians attacked in force 

 against Eylau windmill. Augereau's 

 7th corps was thereupon ordered by 

 Napoleon to stem the Russian ad- 

 vance. The day was going against 

 the French, and the battle reached 

 a crisis when Augereau's troops, 

 blinded with driving sleet and 

 snow, enfiladed by artillery and 

 attacked by infantry, suddenly had 

 a mass of cavalry launched against 

 them. Augereau was hit, and all 

 his colonels and brigadiers were 

 killed or wounded. 



The French broke, and were in 

 full flight when Napoleon hurled 

 18,000 of Murat's cavalry upon the 

 Russians. The effect was decisive. 

 The Russians were scattered, regi- 

 ments were ridden down in the 

 blinding snow, the squares were 

 broken, 16 standards were taken, 

 and the victorious French only 

 stopped on encountering Bennig- 

 sen's reserves. As the afternoon 

 wore on, with the arrival of Napo- 

 leon's reserves, the day was won, 

 and Bennigsen retired on Konigs- 

 berg, having lost 18,000 men and 

 24 guns. The French losses 

 amounted to 15,000 men. Napo- 

 leon brought into action altogether 

 79,000 men ; the Russians num- 

 bered 75,000. Pron. Ile-ow. 



Eyot (A.S. iget) OR Arr. Islet in 

 river or lake, especially one over- 

 grown with willows. Pron. eight. 



Eyra. S. American wild cat. Re- 

 sembling a large weasel with a long 

 tail, it is reddish brown in colour, 

 without stripes. It ranges from 

 Mexico to Brazil, and is a trouble 

 to the poultry farmer. 



Eyre. Lake in S. Australia. It 

 is 4,000 sq. m. in area, but in dry 

 seasons merely a salt marsh. In 

 wet seasons the Barcoo and Dia- 

 mantine rivers flow into it. Edward 

 John Eyre discovered it in 1840. 



Eyre. Word derived from the 

 Latin iter, a journey. It is used 

 chiefly in connexion with the itin- 

 erant justices sent out by Henry II 

 and known as justices in eyre. In 

 Scotland the form aire came into 

 use. See Henry II ; Judge. 



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