ELQ 



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ELL 



EL'EMENTS, plu. of element (q. v.). 1. In 

 chemistry. See ELEMENT. The elements 

 of a compound body are its constituent 

 parts ; these may be either proximate or 



ultimate. 2. In astronomy, certain 



quantities which require to be known in 

 order to determine something else ; thus 

 the elements of the planets require to be 

 known in order to determine the theory 

 of their elliptic motion. 3. First prin- 

 ciples, as the elements of geometry. 1. 



The bread and wine in the eucharist. 



ELE'MI, or GCM-ELEMI, a resin which 

 exudes from incisions made in the bark 

 of the Amyris elemifera, a tree which 

 grows in South America and Brazil. 



E'LENCH, Lat. elenchus, a fallacious ar- 

 gument. A sophism. 



EL'EPHANT, the largest terrestrial ani- 

 mal. See ELEPHAS. 



ELEPHANT, WHITE. A Danish order of 

 knighthood. 



EL'EPHANT-BE'ETLE, a large species of 

 tcarabeus found in South America. It is 

 covered by a hard black shell, is nearly 

 four inches long, and has a proboscis an 

 inch and a quarter in length. 



ELEPHANTI'ASIS, a species of leprosy, 

 named popularly elephant-leg, from the 

 swellings and incrustations resembling 

 those of the hide of an elephant. It is con- 

 sidered contagious. 



EL'EPHAS, iA.i<pj, the elephant. Order 

 pachydermata ; family proboscidiana. 

 There are two species ; the Indian ele- 

 phant (E. Indicus, Cuv.), and the African 

 elephant (E. Africanus, Cuv.). The first 

 has an oblong head, the latter a round 

 head. Elephants live in herds, and their 

 food is strictly vegetable. 



ELEUSIJJ'IAX MYSTERIES, anciently se- 

 cret religious rites annually performed at 

 Eleusis. 



ELEVA'TIOX, Lat. elevatio, a raising 

 '.leva, to raise). 1. In astronomy, altitude, 

 the height of a body above the horizon of 



any place. 2. In gunnery, &c. the angle 



which the axis of the gun makes with the 

 horizon. 3. In perspective, the repre- 

 sentation of the whole body, a geometri- 

 cal projection drawn on a plane perpen- 

 dicular to the horizon. 



ELEVA'TOR. 1. In anatomy, a muscle 

 which serves to raise a part to which it is 



attached, as the lip. 2. In surgery, an 



instrument for raising a depressed portion 

 o'bone, especially of the cranial bones. 



ELF-AR'HOWS, flint-stones sharpened on 

 both sides in the shape of arrow-heads, 

 made use of in war by the ancient Britons, 

 but vulgarly supposed to have been shot 

 by elve or fairies. 



EL'GIN MARBLES, certain ancient mar- 

 bles brought from Greece by the Earl of 

 Elgin, chiefly from the Parthenon a1 

 Athens, and deposited in the British Mu 

 earn, having been purchased by govern 



ment for35,000/. They are believed to be 

 the work of Phidias. Among them are 

 some of the finest specimens of ancient 

 sculpture. 



ELIMINATION, from elimino, to thrust 

 out, denotes, in analysis, that process by 

 which all the unknown quantities, except 

 one, are exterminated out of an equation. 



ELICJUA'TION, from eliquo, to melt. An 

 operation by means of which a more fu- 

 sible substance is separated from one less 

 fusible, by applying a degree of heat suf- 

 ficient to fuse all the former, and not the 

 latter. 



ELI'SOR, from Norm, eliser, to choose. 

 In law, when the sheriff is not an indif- 

 ferent party in a suit, or when he is con- 

 cerned by interest or aflanity, the venire 

 is issued to the coroners : or if exception 

 lies to these, it is issued to two persons of 

 the county, named by the court and 

 sworn. These are called elisors, and re- 

 turn the jury. 



ELK, an animal of the cervine genus, 

 the Cervus alee, Lin. Found in the nor- 

 thern regions of Europe, Asia, and Ame- 

 rica. In the latter country it is called 

 moose, from the Indian name musii. 



ELL, a measure of length. The English 

 ell is 49 inches, the Scotch 37'2, the 

 French 54, and the Flemish 27. 



EL'LIPSE, ELLIP'SIS, gAAe;-^/?, defect. 

 1. In geometry, a figure generated from 

 the section of a 

 cone by a plane 

 cutting both 

 _ sides of the 

 cone, but not 

 parallel with 

 the base : popu- 

 larly called an 

 oval. The line C D is the transverse dia- 

 meter, and the shorter line, AB, is the 

 conjugate diameter. Theae lines are at 

 right angles to each other, and both 

 equally divided in the centre; they are, 

 therefore, called the greater and lesser 



axis. 2. In grammar, a figure of syntax, 



by which one or more words are omitted, 

 which the hearer or reader may supply. 



ELLIP'SOID, an elliptical spheroid, being 

 a solid generated by the revolution of an 

 ellipse about either axis. 



ELLIP'TIC, J something relating to an 



ELLIP'TICAL, / ellipse. An elliptical are 

 is any part of the periphery of an ellipse. 

 An elliptic conoid is synonymous with 

 spheroid. An elliptic dial is one usually 

 made to fold up for convenience of the 

 pocket. An elliptic spindle is the solid ge- 

 nerated by the revolution of any segment 

 of an ellipse about its chord. Elliptical 

 Compasses. See COMPASS. 



EI.LIPTIC'ITY, the difference between 

 the greater and lesser semi-axis of an 

 ellipse. 



ELLIF'TOORAFII, from iX>.t<^n, an elllp 



