782 



EBB EBONY. 



K/iu de Luce (aqua Lucia, or spiritus satis aninio- 

 niaci succinattu) ; invented by a person named Luce, 

 Bt Lille, in Flanders; a volatile preparation, thus 

 made : ten or twelve grains of white soap are dis- 

 solved in four ounces of rectified spirit of wine, after 

 which the solution is strained, and a drachm of recti- 

 fied oil of amber is added, and the whole is fil- 

 trated. Afterwards, some strong volatile spirit of 

 sal ammonia should be mixed with the solution. This 

 water is much in use in England. 



EBB water. See Tide. 



EBELING, CHRISTOPHER DANIEL; an eminent 

 geographical writer ; was born in 1741, at Garmis- 

 sen, in Hildesheim. He studied theology at Gottin- 

 gen, from 1763 to 17G7, paying particular attention 

 to ecclesiastical history and exegesis, which led him 

 to a careful study of the Oriental languages, especi- 

 ally the Arabic. He also studied political history, 

 Greek, Roman, and English literature, and the fine 

 arts, for which he, at length, relinquished theology. 

 In order to procure himself further advancement, he 

 went to Leipsic as a tutor, and, in 1769, accepted a 

 place offered him in the academy of commerce at 

 Hamburg. As good manuals were wanted for the 

 study of modern languages, he published, for thfi 

 academy of commerce, in 1773, his Miscellaneous 

 Essays in English Prose, which passed through six 

 editions, and were soon followed by similar manuals 

 for the Italian, French, Spanish, and Dutch Ian- 

 gun ges. For the same reason, he applied himself more 

 to the study of geography, and published transla- 

 tions of many, especially English travels. Encou- 

 raged by his connexions with Hamburg, the academy 

 of commerce, and the house of Busching, he soon 

 found means to open for himself new sources of 

 geographical information. Britain, Spain, Portugal, 

 and America, especially the United States, were the 

 subjects of his particular attention. In the new edi- 

 tion of the great geography of Busching, he under- 

 took an account of Portugal and the United States of 

 North America. The long interruption of commerce 

 with foreign countries, and the author's wish to give 

 his work the highest perfection, were the causes of 

 the slow progress of this labour. But all that is 

 completed, is justly viewed as a master-piece. This 

 is the acknowledged opinion, not only in Europe, 

 but also in the North American states. This great 

 work of his is entitled Geography and History of 

 North America (Hamburg, 1793 99, 5 vols.). 

 After the removal of Wurm from the academy of 

 commerce, Buscliing, in company with Ebeling, 

 undertook the management of this establishment, and 

 they published the Library of Commerce. In 1784, 

 Ebeling was appointed professor of history and the 

 Greek language in the Hamburg gymnasium ; and 

 the superintendence of the Hamburg library was 

 afterwards committed to him. He filled both offices 

 till his death, June 30, 1817, with great reputation. 

 For almost all the literary periodicals of Germany 

 he prepared articles in the geographical and kindred 

 departments. In his earlier years, he wrote a history 

 of German poetry for the Hanover Magazine, and 

 furnished several contributions to the German Lib- 

 rary, published by Frederic Nicolai, and, at a later 

 period, contributed many literary articles to the New 

 Hamburg Gazette. His frank, cheerful, and amiable 

 manners never deserted him, though, for nearly 

 thirty years, he suffered a partial, and, finally, an 

 almost total deafness, and was thus deprived, among 

 other pleasures, of the enjoyment of music, of which 

 he was passionately fond, and in which he had made 

 uncommon attainments. He left behind two collec- 

 tions, perhaps unique in their kind a collection of 

 from 9 to 10,000 maps, and a library of books re- 

 lating to America, and containing more than 3900 



volumes, which was purchased, in 1818, by Israel 

 Thorndike, of Boston, and presented by him 

 to Harvard college, in Cambridge, Massachu- 

 setts. 



EBENEZER (Hebrew ; the stone of help) ; the 

 name of a field where the Philistines defeated the 

 Hebrews, and seized on the sacred ark, and where, 

 afterwards, at Samuel's request, the Lord discomfited' 

 the Philistines, with thunder, &c. On this occasion, 

 Samuel set up a stone, and gave it this designation, 

 to indicate that the Lord had helped them. It is 

 said to be about forty miles south-west of Shiloh. 

 The name of Ebenezer has also been given to a town 

 in Georgia, ElKngham county. 



EBERT, JOHN ARNOLD ; a poet and translator, 

 particularly of English works ; was born in 1723, at 

 Hamburg. His love of the English language was 

 awakened and cherished by Hagedorn, who contri- 

 buted much to the influence of English literatim; 

 upon the German. Not long after the establishment 

 of the Carolinnm, in Brunswick, he received an 

 appointment, in 1748, in the school connected with 

 it, and instructed the hereditary prince, afterwards 

 duke of Brunswick, in the English language. About 

 this time, he conceived the idea of translating, and 

 thus making known to his countrymen, the best 

 English poets and authors. The best of his transla- 

 tions were those of Young's Night Thoulit^. which 

 gained him great reputation as a translator ; and 

 Glover's Leonidas. In 1753, he obtained the place 

 of regular professor in the Carolinum.<ii\t\ afterwards 

 the station of court counsellor. He died in 1795. 

 Ebert had a lively fancy, and a warm imagination. 

 His writings, collected by himself, appeared under 

 the title J. A. Ebert's Epistles and Miscellaneous 

 Poems, to which another volume was added after his 

 death (Hamburg, 1789 and 1795, 2 vols.). 



EBIONITES ; a sect of the first century, so called 

 from their leader, Ebion. They held several dog- 

 mas hi common with the Nazarenes, united the cere- 

 monies of the Mosaic institution with the precepts of 

 the gospel, observed both the Jewish Sabbath and 

 Christian Sunday, and, in celebrating the Eucharist, 

 made use of unleavened bread. They abstained from 

 the flesh of animals, and even from milk. In relation 

 to Jesus Christ, some of them held that he was born, 

 like other men, of Joseph and Mary, and acquired 

 sanctification only by his good works. Others of 

 them allowed that he was born of a virgin, but 

 denied that he was the word of God, or had any ex- 

 istence before his human generation. They said he 

 was, indeed, the only true prophet ; but yet a mere 

 man, who, by his virtue, had arrived at being called 

 Christ, and the Son of God. They also supposed 

 that Christ and the devil were two principles, which 

 God had opposed to each other. Of the New Testa- 

 ment they only received the Gospel of St Matthew, 

 which they called the Gospel according to the Hebrncs. 

 See the article Nazarenes. 



EBONY ; a kind of wood, extremely hard, and 

 susceptible of a very fine polish, which is much used 

 in mosaic, inlaying, and other ornamental works. 

 Its colour is red, black, or green. The black is 

 most esteemed, and is imported principally from 

 Madagascar and the Isle of France. Red ebony, so 

 called, though its colour is brown striped with black, 

 is less compact, and is also brought from Madagas- 

 car. The green is softer than either of the preced- 

 ing, yields a fine green tincture, which is employed 

 in dyeing, and is brought from the West Indies, 

 particularly from Tobago, as well as from the above 

 mentioned islands. The best is jet black, and free 

 from knots, or reddish veins. Ebony is imitated by 

 subjecting some hard kinds of wood, especially that 

 of the pear tree, to a hot decoction of galls, ami. 



