ECH 
posed to each other. Of the NevT Testa- 
ment they only received the gospel of St. 
Matthew, which they called the gospel ac- 
cording to tlie Hebrews. See the article 
Nazarenes. 
EBONY is an exceedingly hard and 
heavy kind of wood, susceptible of a very 
fine polish, and on that account used, in 
mosaic and inlaid works, for toys, &c. It 
is of divers colours, most usually black, red, 
and green ; produced chiefly in the island 
of Madagascar and the Mauritius. Tra- 
vellers give very different accounts of the 
tree that yields tiie black ebony ; some say 
that it is a sort of palm tree, others a cyti- 
sus, &c. M. Flacourt tells us, that it grows 
very high and big, its bark being black, 
and its leaves resembling those of the 
myrtle, of a dee]), dusky, green colour. 
Black ebony is much preferred to that ot 
other colours. The best is a jet black, free 
from veins and rind, very massive, astringent, 
and of an acrid pungent taste. It yields 
an agreeable perfume when laid on burn- 
ing coals : when green it readily takes fire 
from the abundance of its fat. Green 
ebony, besides Madagascar and the Mauri- 
tius, likewise grows in the Antilles, espe- 
cially in the isle of Tobago. The tree that 
yields it is very bushy ; its leaves are smooth, 
and of a fine green colour. Beneath its 
bark is a white rind about two inches thick ; 
all under which, to the very heart, is a 
deep green, approaching towards a black, 
though sometimes streaked with yellow 
veins. Its use is not confined to inlaid 
work, it is likewise good in dyeing, as 
yielding a fine green tincture. 
Ebony is now less used than anciently, 
since the discovery of giving other hard 
woods a black colour. There is a sort of 
ebony coming from the West Indies, which 
is either black or white. This bears a 
flower resembling that of the English 
broom; seldom rises above eighteen feet, 
and in the largest part of the stem, does 
not exceed five inches diameter. It is a 
fine timber wood, has a smooth even grain, 
which takes a good polish, and is very pro- 
per for bed-posts, and a variety of tui nery 
ware ; for which purposes the black is ge- 
nerally preferred, the heart of which is the 
complexion of jet. There is likewise a 
bastard ebony, growing in the West India 
islands, called mountain ebony, which is of 
a dark brown. See Amerimuat. 
EBULLITION. See Boiling. 
ECHTNEIS, the remora, in natural his- 
ECH 
tory, a genus of fishes of the order Thora- 
cici. Genei ic character ; head furnished 
on the top with a flat, oval, transversely- 
grooved .shield ; gill-membrane, with ten 
rays, according to Gmelin, and six accord- 
ing to Shaw; body not scaled. There are 
three species, the echineis remora, or Me- 
diterranean remora is of the length of from 
twelve to eighteen inches. Among the an- 
cients its peculiarity of structure and habits 
was connected with the mo.st incredible 
and marvellous circumstances, which are, 
however, detailed with all possible gravity 
and faith, by their most profound natura- 
lists. Pliny states, that the force of the 
tide, the current, and the tempest, joining 
in one grand impulse with oars and sails, 
to urge a ship onwards in one direction, is 
checked by the operation of one small fish, 
called remora, by the Roman authors, which 
completely counteracts this apparently ir- 
resistible accumulation of power, and com- 
pels the vessel to remain motionless in the 
midst of the ocean. He credits the pre- 
vailing report that Anthony’s ship in the 
battle of Actiiim was kept motionless by 
the exertion of the remora, notwithstanding 
the efforts of several hundred sailors ; and 
that the vessel of Galigula was detained 
between Astura and Antium by another 
of these fishes, found sticking to the helm, 
and whose solitary efforts could not be 
countervailed by a crew of 400 able sea- 
men, till several of the latter on examining 
into the cause of the detention, perceived 
the impediment, and detached the remora 
from its hold. The Emperor, he adds, W’as 
not a little astonished, that the fish should 
hold the ship so fast in the water, and when 
brought upon the deck, appear to possess 
no power of detention over it whatever. 
This confiding naturalist expresses himself 
as perfectly convinced, that all fishes possess 
a similar power, and states as a notorious 
example, the detention of Periander’s ship 
by a porcellane, near the Cape of Gnidos. 
Quitting, however, the fables of antiquity, 
it may be observed, that the fins of the 
remora are particularly weak, and thus pre- 
vent its swimming to any considerable dis- 
tance, on wdiich account it attaches itself 
to various bodies, inanimate or living, being 
found not only fastened to ships, but to 
wliales, sliarks, and other fishes ; and with 
such extreme tenacity is this hold main- 
tained, that, unless the effort of separation 
lie applied in a particular direction, it is 
impossible to effect the disunion without 
