ELL 



E N C 



ing an interval which is indicated by the 

 thickness of a bed of black mould, called 

 the dirt-bed, and by the rings of annual 

 growth in large petrified trunks of pros- 

 trate trees, whose roots had grown in this 

 mould. 



3. We find this forest to have been gra- 

 dually submerged, first beneath the waters 

 of a fresh water lake, next of an estuary, 

 and afterwards beneath those of a deep 

 sea, in which cretaceous and tertiary strata 

 were deposited. 



4. The whole of these have been elevated 

 by subterranean violence. Prof. Buck- 

 land. 



It is now clearly ascertained that the 

 whole country from Frederickshall, in 

 Sweden, to Abo, in Finland, is slowly and 

 visibly rising, while the coast of Green- 

 land is being gradually depressed. Certain 

 parts of Sweden are being gradually ele- 

 vated at the rate of two or three feet in a 

 century. 



ELLI'PTICAL. (elliptique, Fr. ellittico, It.) 

 Having the form of an ellipsis ; oval. 



ELY'TRA. (from tXvrpov, Gr. ) The hard 

 cases which cover the wings of coleopte- 

 rous insects ; the wing-sheaths, or upper 

 crustaceous membranes, which cover the 

 true membranous wings of insects of the 

 beetle tribe. 



EMA'RGINATE. 



EMA'RGINATED. 



1. In botany, applied to leaves terminating 

 in a small acute notch at the summit. 



2. In conchology, to shells having no 

 margin ; or when the edges, instead of 

 being level, are hollowed out. 



3. In mineralogy, to minerals having all 

 the edges of the primitive form truncated, 

 each by one face. 



EMBE'DOED. Sunk in, and surrounded by, 



another substance. 

 E'MBRYO. (tpflpvov, Gr. embryon, Lat.) 



1. In botany, the germ, or most essential 

 part of a seed, and without which no seed 

 is perfect, or capable of re-production. 

 The embryo is usually placed within the 

 substance of the seed, either central, ex 

 central out of the centre, or external ; its 

 direction is curved or straight, and in 

 some instances spiral. Flora Medica. 



2. The offspring yet enclosed in the ute- 

 rus, and in the early stage only of utero- 

 gestation ; afterwards called the foetus 



EMBOUCHU'RE. (Fr.) The mouth of a 

 river, or that part where it enters the 

 sea. 



E'MERALD. (emeraude, Fr. emeraldo, It. 

 p,apaySoe, Gr. smaragdus, Lat.) A pre- 

 cious stone of a green colour, found crys- 

 tallized. Under the genus emerald are 

 comprised two species, the first, the pris- 

 matic emerald, or euclase of Werner and 

 Haiiy, and prismatischer smaragd o 



Mohs ; the second, the rhombohedral 

 emerald, or rhomboedrischer smaragd of 

 Mohs. This last species contains two 

 varieties, the precious emerald and the 

 beryl, or common emerald. The emerald 

 and beryl are crystallized compounds of 

 an earth called glycina, with silex, alu- 

 mine, lime, and oxide of iron ; the splen- 

 did green of the emerald is attributed to 

 the presence of oxide of chromium. The 

 finest emeralds are brought from Peru. 

 Vauquelin, in analysing the emerald, first 

 discovered the earth which he called gly- 

 cina, or glucina. 

 EME'RGE. (emeryo, Lat.) To rise out of 



any thing by which it is covered. 

 EME'RGENCE. The act of rising out of 



that by which it has been covered. 

 EME'RGENT. Rising out of that by which 



it was covered. 

 EME'RSION. (emersion, Fr. emersione, It.) 



Emergence. 



E'MERY. (emeri, Fr. pierre ferrugineuse 

 fort dure, dont on se sert pour polir les 

 mitaux et lespierres. ) A massive, nearly 

 opaque, greyish-black variety of rhom- 

 bohedral corundum, consisting of alumina 

 86-0, silica 3'0, oxide of iron 4-0. Emery 

 powder is used for the purpose of polish- 

 ing metals and hard stones, and also for 

 domestic purposes, sprinkled upon, and 

 fastened to, brown paper ; then called 

 emery-paper. 



E'MYS. (from *)/*vw, Gr.) Emydes, pi. 

 The fresh-Water turtle or tortoise. This 

 has five nails to the fore feet, and four to 

 the hind ones. Most of them feed on 

 insects, small fishes, &c. Their envelope 

 is generally more flattened than that of 

 the land tortoises. In fresh-water tor- 

 toises all the toes are nearly equal, and of 

 moderate length ; in land tortoises the 

 toes are also nearly equal, but they are 

 short ; in the marine tortoise, or turtle, 

 the toes are all long, and the middle toe 

 of the fore paddle is considerably longer 

 than the rest. Fossil species of the 

 emys have been discovered in the Weal- 

 den, as well as in lacustrine deposits of 

 the tertiary period. 

 ENCE'PHALON. (eyictyaXoQ, Gr.) The 



brain. 



ENCRI'NAL. Pertaining to encrinites ; 

 composed of encrinites ; containing en- 

 crinites. 



ENCRI'NITE. (from Kpivov, Gr. lilium.) 

 A fossil encrinus. A genus of the order 

 Crinoidea, known by the name of stone - 

 lily. Dr. Mantell observes, " there are 

 some kinds of star-fish which, instead of 

 the five flat rays of the common species, 

 have jointed arms, which surround the 

 body and mouth, like the tentacula of the 

 polypus. These arms are composed of 

 thousands of little bones, or ossicula, and 



