LLA 



El.D 



(ruit of Uie while is usrd in Franro 

 as food. As they contain an acrid 

 principle, care is taken in the cooking 

 to remove it ; this is done by wann- 

 ing thin slices in water, or allowing 

 it to steep in salt and water over 

 night, draining off the fluid, washing 

 well in fresh water, and then frying 

 in batter, &c. An ounce of good 

 seed yields 4000 plants. The ut- 

 most care is necessary to preserve 

 the young plants from being chilled 

 to death in the Northern States; it is 

 altogether a tender vegetable. 



The S. insanium, or dow^ny egg 

 plant, is occasionally cultivated in the 

 United States. 



EGYPTIAN CORN. Sorghum. 

 An annual resembling broom corn, 

 but. producing a large, exposed ear, 

 with small, brown grains, condensed 

 together. It is tu be planted and 

 managed like corn, but may be set 

 rather closer. The yield of grain is 

 from 75 to 100 bushels ; it is recom- 

 mended for poultry. The fodder ap- 

 pears to be inferior to that of Indian 

 corn, and, excepting the yield, there 

 does not seem to be anything to in- 

 duce the cultivation. 



E LAIN (from £;iaiov, 0)7). The 

 fluid oil existing in fats, &c., which 

 may be separated by pressure, by cold, 

 or by digestmg in seven or eight times 

 its weight of boiling alcohol, which 

 acts upon the fat or tallow in such a 

 way that the elain floats above the 

 alcoholic solution, and the solid, or 

 stearin, sinks below when cold. See 

 Fats. 



ELASTICITY. The power cer- 

 tain bodies possess of returning back 

 to their original bulk or position when 

 bent or compressed. Gases are the 

 most elastic bodies known, fluids the 

 least, and metals differ exceedingly 

 in this respect. 



Heating metals to a certain point 

 and suddenly cooling by immersion 

 in water imparts elasticity in some 

 cases ; steaming timbers also in- 

 creases the quality, fur the time, in a 

 great measure. 



" The principal phenomena of elas- 

 tic bodies are the following : L That 

 an elastic body (the elasticity being 

 250 



supposed perfect) exerts the same 

 force in endeavouring to restore it- 

 self as that with which it was com- 

 l)ressed or bent. 2. The force of 

 elastic bodies is exerted equally in 

 all directions, hut the effect chiefly 

 takes place on the side on which the 

 resistance is the least. 3. When an 

 elastic solid body is made to vibrate 

 by a sudden stroke, the vibrations 

 are performed in equal times, to 

 whatever part of the body the stroke 

 may be communicated. Thus, sono- 

 rous bodies always emit sounds of 

 the same pitch ; and the difference 

 of the pitch depends on the greater or 

 less frequency of the vibrations of 

 the sonorous body. 4. A body per- 

 fectly incompressible cannot be elas- 

 tic, therefore bodies perfectly solid 

 can have no elasticity ; and hence, 

 also, the small degree of elasticity 

 belonging to the liquids, which are em- 

 inently incompressible." — {Brandc.) 



ELATEIl (from e/.aTtip, a Icapcr). 

 A genus of spring beetles ; they are 

 vegetable feeders, the larvee doing 

 occasionally much mischief to garden 

 plants by gnawing the roots. The 

 Elater noctilucus is our common tire- 

 fly, the E. lineatus the wire-worm in- 

 sect. 



ELATERIUM. Momordica clete- 

 rium. Squirting cucumber. An in- 

 digenous annual vine, bearing a small 

 fruit like the cucumber, the juice of 

 which is a drastic purge. 



ELBOW. The shoulder-joint of 

 cattle. A bend in carpentry. 



ELDER. Two varieties are in- 

 digenous to the United States : Sam- 

 bucus CanadctLsis, the common pest 

 of hedge-rows and margins of ponds, 

 and S. pubesccns, bearing a red berry, 

 common in the mountains of Penn- 

 sylvania. The black elder is of con- 

 siderable economical value ; the juice 

 of the berries, fermented with sugar, 

 forms an agreeable wine ; a decoction 

 of the fresh leaves is very obnoxious 

 to insects, and may be extensively 

 used in the garden ; it is also offen- 

 sive to moles. Sheep are said to se- 

 lect the leaves as a natural remedy 

 in rot. The plants, which grow from, 

 eight to fifteen feet high, are recom- 



