248 EHRENBERG, CHRISTIAN G. 



ELECTRICITY. 



Mubarak, Minister of Worship at that time. 

 This decree directed that a building be erected 

 in the ministerial premises, of a capacity for the 

 proper accommodation of 30,000 volumes, in 

 which should be collected and preserved the 

 books, maps, scientific instruments, and papers, 

 belonging to the public benevolent institutions 

 and public offices of the country, in such a 

 shape as to be convenient for the use of the 

 public. The library will include the " Old 

 Library," founded by Mehemet All in 1838, 

 consisting principally of works printed at the 

 public printing-office. Of the libraries of the 

 public benevolent and religious institutions to 

 be incorporated in it, a writer in the Allge- 

 meine Zeitung names as known to him those 

 of thirty-one mosques, three Talijne, or der- 

 vis cloisters, one school, and three private 

 residences, containing in all 16,562 volumes, 

 exclusive of the collection in the mosque of 

 Al Azhar. The library will be made as com- 

 plete as possible in the special departments of 

 "Egyptology," of which all works published, 

 in all languages, will be procured, and of Orien- 

 tal literature. The collection of Arabic works 

 will be carefully looked to, and it is antici- 

 pated that this department of the library of 

 many valuable writings, now practically out of 

 the reach of European scholars, will be made 

 accessible and useful. It is intended also, in 

 the scientific .departments, to provide the 

 works necessary for the pursuit of the profes- 

 sional studies of engineers, architects, and 

 others, to professional men, without their hav- 

 ing to go out of the country. The library is 

 open to every one for consultation, on the 

 single condition of his presenting a certificate 

 signed by his consul or some prominent man 

 of the city ; but books cannot be taken out. 

 The collection has already become very valu- 

 able. During 1876 it was enriched by the ad- 

 dition of a large portion of the works, chiefly 

 Oriental manuscripts, of the late Mustafa Fazyl 

 Pasha, of Constantinople. 



The Assembly of the Delegates of Egypt 

 was opened on the 23d of November. The 

 Khedive recommended the establishment of 

 an Egyptian national bank. 



The war with Abyssinia, commenced in 



1875, continued through the greater part of 



1876, being in its results rather disastrous to 

 the Egyptians. (See ABYSSINIA.) 



EHRENBERG, CHRISTIAN GOTTFRIED, a 

 German naturalist, born April 19, 1795 ; died 

 June 27, 1876. He entered the University of 

 Leipsic in 1815, studying at first theology, and 

 then devoting himself to the study of the 

 natural sciences and of medicine. In 1816 he 

 went to Berlin, where he graduated as doctor 

 of medicine in 1818. In the following year 

 the Academy of Sciences furnished him and 

 his friend Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich with 

 the means for a long scientific journey. They 

 went to Egypt and its neighboring countries, 

 from which Ehrenberg returned alone in 1826, 

 Hemprich having died at Massowah. Upon 



his return to Berlin he was appointed ex- 

 traordinary professor in the university, and in 

 the following year he was created a member 

 of the Academy. In 1829 he took part in 

 Alexander von Humboldt's journey to Asia. 

 Having become Secretary of the Academy in 

 1842, he was appointed ordinary professor at 

 the university in 1847. A sketch of his first 

 journey is contained in " Naturgeschichtliche 

 Reisen durch Nordafrika und Westasien in den 

 Jahren 1820-'25, von Hemprich und Ehren- 

 berg." The scientific results of this journey 

 are contained in " Symbol physicse seu 

 Icones et Descriptiones Mammalium " (1828- 

 '33), " Symbolse physicse Avium " (1828), 

 " Symbolse physicse Insectorum " (1829-'34), 

 and " Symbols) physicse Animalium Evertebra- 

 torum sepositis Insectis" (1829-'31). His great 

 scientific fame is based chiefly on the knowl- 

 edge of microscopic organisms, which was 

 considerably promoted by him. Although his 

 observations have been superseded by more 

 recent ones, he must be regarded as the founder 

 of this school. Among his works pertaining 

 to this subject the most important are : " Orga- 

 nisation, Systematik und geographisches Ver- 

 haltniss der Infusionsthierchen " (1830), "Zur 

 Kenntniss der Organisation in der Richtung 

 des kleinsten Raums" (1832-'34), " Zusatze 

 zur Erkenntniss grosser Organisation im 

 kleinen Raum " (1836), and his principal work, 

 " Die Infusionsthierchen als vollkommene 

 Organismen, ein Blick in das tiefere Leben 

 der organischen Natur " (1838), with 64 cop- 

 perplates engraved from his own drawings. 

 He was led by the discovery that many fire- 

 stones, chalk, and other mineral substances con- 

 sisted of layers of microscopic organisms, to the 

 observation of the smallest fossil creatures. 

 On these researches he reported in " Die Bil- 

 dung der europaischen, libyschen und urali- 

 schen Kreidefelsen und des Kreidemergels 

 aus mikroskopischen Organismen " (1839), 

 "Die fossilen Infusorien und die lebendige 

 Dammerde" (1837), and his principal work on 

 this subject, " Mikrogeologie " (1854). Among 

 his later works are : " Uebersicht der seit 1847 

 fortgesetzten Untersuchungen liber das von 

 der Atmosphare unsichtbar getragene .reiche 

 organische Leben " (1871), " Nachtrag zur 

 Uebersicht der organischen Atmospharilien " 

 (1872), and " Mikrogeologische Studien ilber 

 das kleinste Leben der Meerestiefgrunde aller 

 Zonen" (1873). 



ELECTRICITY. Electricity and the The- 

 ory of Comets. Reitlinger and Urbanitsky 

 have addressed to the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences a memoir on a new electrical repul- 

 sion and its application to the theory of com- 

 ets. It is known that the luminous column 

 produced in a Geissler tube gives rise to a 

 phenomenon of attraction, when the finger 

 or any conductor whatever is brought near 

 the tube. The authors experimented with two 

 tubes that had contained, the one bromine 

 and the other perchloride of tin. The Ugh* 



