ECKHKL ECKMUHL. 



789 



distances, each of them may produce a distinct echo, 

 ot which the first is the strongest, because the others 

 are weakened by a longer passage through the air. 

 As the reflection of sound depends on the same laws 

 as those which regulate the reflection of light, on 

 which the science of catoptrics depends, the doctrine 

 of echoes is sometimes called the catoptrics of sound ; 

 a better name is cataphonics, or catacoustics. The 

 place of the sounding body is called the phonic centre, 

 and the reflecting place or object, the plwnocamptic 

 centre. The most celebrated echoes are that at 

 Roseneath, in Scotland, and tliat of the Villa Virnour- 

 tia, near Milan, which repeats a word thirty or forty 

 times. 



ECKHEL, JOSEPH HILARY, a learned Jesuit, who 

 distinguished himself greatly by his works on coins, 

 medals, and other remains of classical antiquity. He 

 was born at Enzersfeld, in Austria, in 1737. After 

 becoming a member of the society of St Ignatius, he 

 was appointed keeper of the imperial cabinet of me- 

 dals, and professor of archaeology at Vienna. He 

 died in 1798. Eckhel may be regarded as the founder 

 of the science of numismatics, the principles of which 

 are elaborately developed in his treatise entitled Doc- 

 trina Nummorum P'eterum, 8 vols. folio, finished in 

 1798. He also published catalogues of the ancient 

 coins and gems in the imperial cabinet, and other 

 learned treatises. His first work was Nummi veteres 

 anecdoti, 1775. 



ECKMUHL ; a village on the Laber, in the Ba- 

 varian circle of the Regen, remarkable for the 

 battle of April 22, 1809. Austria, encouraged by the 

 national war, which had been kindled in Spain against 

 Napoleon, entered the contest without allies, but, 

 trusting chiefly to Britain and the Porte, with an 

 energy greater than she had ever before, displayed. 

 She called out all her regular forces, and tne mili- 

 tia, lately organized by the archduke John ; the 

 archduke Charles commanded in the character of 

 generalissimo. While count Stadion, with Geutz and 

 others, summoned the Germans to arms by proclama- 

 tions, and conducted the negociations, the army was 

 destined to put an end to the confederation of the 

 Rhine, and the power of France in G ermany, Poland, 

 and Italy, and to restore to Austria and the German 

 empire their former independent position in the 

 European system. Six corps d'armee, under the arch- 

 duke Charles, with two bodies of reserve, in all 

 220,000 men, guarded the Iser and Munich (April 

 16), and the Danube and Ratisbon (April 20); the 

 seventh corps, under the archduke Ferdinand of 

 Este, 36,000 strong, took possession of the duchy of 

 Warsaw ; and two corps, 80,000 strong, under the 

 archduke John, menaced Italy, the Tyrol having 

 already (April 11, taken up arms in favour of Aus- 

 tria. Napoleon's victory at Eckmuhl decided the 

 campaign of 1809, on the Danube, in the vicinity of 

 Ratisbon, and compelled Austria to give up her 

 offensive operations, and to re-assume the disadvan- 

 tageous attitude of defensive war. The operations 

 on the Danube, during the five days from the 19th to 

 the 23d of April, cannot, therefore, be disconnected 

 from the important liattle of Eckmuhl. 



Napoleon left Paris, April 13, and promised the 

 king of Bavaria, at Dillingen, on the 16th, to restore 

 him to his capital within a fortnight, and to make 

 him more powerful than any of his ancestors ; on the 

 18th, his head-quarters were at Ingolstadt. Here he 

 determined to concentrate the different corps of his 

 army commanded by Davoust,Oudinot, and Massena, 

 the Bavarians under the command of Lefebvre, and 

 the Wurtemberg troops under Vandamme, in all 

 200,000 men ; Poniatowski, in expectation of the 

 Russian auxiliary corps, was charged with the de- 

 fence of Warsaw ; the viceroy Eugene, step-son of 



Napoleon, was to protect Italy ; and marslial Mar- 

 mont, Dalmatia. Napoleon himself prepared for the 

 attack. For this purpose, Oudinot, by the affair at 

 Pfaftenhofen, on the 19th April, effected a junction 

 with Massena, on the 20th ; at the same time, Da- 

 voust, who advanced from Ratisbon, attacked the 

 archduke Louis at Tann (a town in the Bavarian 

 circle of the lower Danube) and Rohr, wliile the Ba- 

 varians, under Lefebvre, fell upon his rear. Davoust, 

 with the Bavarians, then joined the mam army, under 

 Napoleon, who now commenced the attack in person. 

 While Davoust kept in check three corps of the Aus- 

 trian main army, under the archduke Charles, Na- 

 poleon, with the Bavarians and Wurtembergers, and 

 the French corps under Lannes and Massena, fell 

 upon the Austrian left wing, consisting of about 

 60,000 men, under the archduke Louis and general 

 Hiller, at Abensberg (near Ratisbon), on the 20th, 

 who were thus cut off from the Danube and the arch- 

 duke Charles. Charles, meanwhile, had taken pos- 

 session of Ratisbon on the 20th, formed a junction 

 with the corps which advanced from the upper Pala- 

 tinate, stormed the heights of Abbach, on the right 

 bank of the Danube, on the 21st, and taken position 

 at Eckmuhl, which commands the communication 

 with Ratisbon. Here, having concentrated four corps, 

 he menaced the victor of Abensberg in his rear, and 

 hoped to make himself master of the road to Donau- 

 werth, on which the possession of Bavaria depended. 

 But Davoust and Lefebvre held him in check on the 

 21st, and, on the 22d, Napoleon, with the divisions 

 of Lannes and Massena, the Wurtembergers and the 

 cuirassiers, advanced from Landslmt to the Danube, 

 and attacked the archduke, at two o'clock in the af- 

 ternoon, at Eckmuhl, where the Bavarians and Da- 

 voust were already engaged. This movement decided 

 the contest. The Wurtembergers took the village of 

 Burghausen ; the Bavarian general Seidewitz, witli 

 two Bavarian regiments of cavalry, carried an Aus- 

 trian battery, which commanded the road from Land- 

 shut to Ratisbon ; Lannes flanked the Austrian left, 

 whilst Davoust, Lefebvre, and Montbrun, attacked 

 them in front. The Austrians obstinately defended 

 their second position, and the Wurtemberg infantry 

 took the village of Eckmuhl by storm. At this time, 

 the French cavalry broke the Austrian lines, on the 

 plain in the rear of Eckmuhl. The Austrian infantry, 

 thus taken in flank, were tlirown into disorder, and 

 the archduke Charles himself was saved only by the 

 fleetness of his horse. Thus, about 1 10,000 Austrian 

 troops, under an able general, covering a position of 

 twelve miles in length, were attacked from all quar- 

 ters by about 130,000 French and Germans, extend- 

 ing over a line of twenty-nine miles, were outflanked 

 on their left wing, and totally routed. During the 

 night, die archduke passed the Danube, and at- 

 tempted to cover his retreat by defending Ratisbon, 

 which was indifferently fortified. Napoleon moved 

 on like a storm. The French cuirassiers chased the 

 Austrian cavalry, destined to cover Ratisbon, over 

 the Danul)e. The French-Bavarian artillery made a 

 breach in the walls, the French infantry, headed by 

 Lannes, forced their way into the city, and, after a 

 bloody combat in the streets, Napoleon became mas- 

 ter of Ratisbon. Napoleon was slightly wounded in 

 his foot by a spent musket ball, on the 23d. His 

 bulletin of the 24th announced that the fruits of the 

 five days' campaign, of the three victories at Tann, 

 Abensberg, and Eckmuhl, and the combats at Frei- 

 sing, Landshut, and Ratisbon, were 100 cannon, forty 

 stands of colours, 50,000 prisoners, three pontons, and 

 3000 wagons ; and added, " in four weeks, we shall 

 be in Vienna." Davoust, duke of Auerstadt, re- 

 ceived the title of prince of Eckmuhl. The same / 

 day, Napoleon abolished the Teutonic order In all the 



