•TOO 
E L A 
E L A 
coinpafl and ela[tic by being hammered : tempered flee? 
-is much more elaftic than i'ot't fleel ; and the denfity of 
the former is to that of the latter as 7S09 to 7738 : cold 
condentes Folid bodies, and renders them more elaftic 
whilft heat, that relaxes them, has the oppolite effedt : 
but, on the contrary, air, and other elaftic fluids, are ex¬ 
panded by heat, and rendered more elaftic. 
ELASTIC FLUIDS, or VAPOURS, are fuch as may 
be compreffed mechanically into a lefs (pace, and which 
refume their former (late when the comprefling force is 
withdrawn. -Such as atmofp'herical air, and all the aerial 
fluids, with all kinds of fumes or gafes railed by means 
of heat, whether from folid or fluid bodies. Of thefe. 
Tome remain elaftic only while a considerable degree of 
heat is applied to them, or to the fubftance which pro¬ 
duces them ; while others continue elaftic in every de¬ 
gree of cold that lias yet been obferved. The elaftic 
force with Which any one of thefe fluids is endowed, has 
not yet beea calculated, as being ultimately greater than 
any obftacle we can put in its way. Thus, on compref¬ 
ling the atmofp'herical air,«we find that for Lome little 
time at firft it eafily yields to any force applied ; but at 
every fucceeding moment the reliftance becomes always 
the ftronger, and a greater and greater force mull be ap¬ 
plied to comprefs it farther. As the compreflion goes 
on, the veffel containing the air becomes hot; but no 
power whatever has yet been able in any degree to deitroy 
the elafticity of the contained fluid ; for, upon removing 
the preffure, it is always found to occupy the very fame 
fpace that it did before. The cafe is the fame with the 
fteam of water, to which a fufficient heat is applied to 
keep it from condenfing into water. See all thefe fafts 
exemplified under the heads of the different Gafes, and 
under Atmofpkericai Air, in the article Chemistry, vol. iv. 
p. 196, &c. 
ELAS'TTC STONE, f. See Brasilian Stone. 
ELAS'TIC GUM, or Resin, J'. commonly called In¬ 
dia-rubber. See the article Caoutchouc, vol. iii. p. 744 ; 
and the article Chemistry, vol. iv. p. 340. 
ELASTl'CITY, f. Force in bodies, by which they 
endeavour to reftore themfelves to the pofture from 
whence they were difplaced by any external force. Quincy. 
—A lute-ftring will bear an hundred weight without rup¬ 
ture ; hut at the fame time cannot exert its elafticity .- take 
away fifty, and immediately it raifeth the weight. Arbuthnot. 
Me emptinefs and diillncfs could infpire. 
And were my elaficity and fire. Pope. 
The cattle or principle of this important property, 
elaficity, is varioufly accounted for. The Cartefians 
aferibe it to their fubtile matter making an effort to pafs 
through pores that are too narrow for it. Thus, fay they, 
in bending or comprefling a hard elaftic body, as a bow, 
for inftance, its parts recede from each other on the con¬ 
vex fide, and approach on the concave one : confequently 
the pores are contra^ed or ftraitened on the concave fide ; 
and, if they were before round, are now perhaps oval: 
fo that the materia fubtilis, or matter of the fecond ele¬ 
ment, endeavouring to pafs out of the pores thus ftraight- 
ened, mud make an effort, at the fame time, to reftore 
the body to the (date it was in when the pores were 
rounder, i. e. before the bow was bent : and in this con- 
fifts its elaficity Some later philofophers account for 
elafticity much after the fame manner as the Cartefians, 
with this only difference, that inftead of the fubtile mat¬ 
ter of the Cartefians, thefe fubftitute ether, or a fine 
ethereal medium that pervades all bodies. 
Others, fetting afide the precarious notion of a materia 
fubtilis, account for elafticity from the great law of na¬ 
ture, attrafdion, or the caule of the cohefion of the parts 
of folid and firm bodies. Thus, fay they, when a hard 
body is (Truck or bent, fo that the component parts are 
moved a little from each other, but not quite disjointed 
or broken off', or feparated fo far as to be out of the power 
of that attracting force by which they cohere ; they 
muff, on removing the external violence,Turing back t« 
their former natural ftate. Others again refolve elafticity 
into the preffure of the atmofphere : for a violent tendon, 
or compreflion, though not fo great as to fe pa rave the 
condiment particles of bodies far. enough to let in any 
foreign matter, mud yet occalion many little vacuola be¬ 
tween tlie feparated fnrfaces ; fo that on the removal of 
the force they will clofe again by the preffure of the 
aerial fluid upon the external parts. There are others 
w ho attribute the elafticity of all hard bodies to the 
power of refilition in the air included within them ; and 
fo make the elaftic force of the air the principle of elafti¬ 
city in all other bodies. 
Among the modern philofophers, Barruel and Libes 
feem to have made the mod. interefting refearches re- 
fpedting the caufe of elafticity. Barruel aferibes the 
caufe to two principles: 1. “ Every body in nature,” 
fays he, “is porous, and thefe pores are proportioned to 
the denfity of the fubftance. 2. Thefe pores are filled 
with different fluids, and principally with caloric. But 
caloric pofteffes a ftrong repulfive force ; from which it 
follows, that, when an elaftic body is compreffed, the ca¬ 
loric in its pores drives back by its repulfive power the 
difplaced parts, and brings them to their former ftate.” 
Libes, who*has examined tlie fame fubjeft with (irnilar 
attention, makes elafticity to depend on caloric inter- 
pofed either between the m of ecu lie of tlie bodies, or 
combined with them, and at the fame time on the attrac¬ 
tive force of thefe moleculse. “This being premifed,” 
fays lie, “ I fay, that the reftoration of folid bodies after 
compreflion is a combined effect, which depends in part 
on the repulfive force which their integral molecules have 
received from caloric, and in part from the attractive 
force of thefe moleculae.” He then applies elegant for¬ 
mulae of calculation to thefe phenomena. 
The fuppofition that repulfion is a primary catife, in¬ 
dependent of all others, has given rife to many erroneous 
theories, and very much embarraffed philofophers in ac¬ 
counting for the phenomena of elafticity. 
ELA'TE, adj. flatus, Lat.] Fkifhed with fuccefs; 
elevated with profperity ; lofty ; haughty : 
Oh, thoughtlefs mortals! ever blind to fate! 
Too foon dejeftea, and too foon elate! 
I, of mind date, and fcorning fear, 
Thus with new taunts infult the monfter’s ear. Pope. 
To ELA'TE, v. a. To elevate with fuccefs; to puff 
up with profperity.v To exult; to heighten. An unu- 
fualfenfc: 
Or truth, divinely breaking on bis mind, 
Elates his being, and unfolds bis power. Thomfon. 
EI/ATE, f. [fo named rcoepa. to thatv, from its great 
height ; eXodj ovpccfo/Avy-vt> Homer.'] In botany, a genus of 
palmae, (monoecia triandria, Thunb.) The generic cha- 
radters are—I. Maleflowers. Calyx: fpathetwo-valved ; 
fpadix branching. Corolla: petals three, roundifh. 
Stamina: filaments three, fimple ; anthene adnate. li. 
Female flowers in the fame fpadix with the males. Ca¬ 
lyx : fpathe common with the males. Corolla: petals 
three, roundifh, permanent. Piftillum : germ roundifh ; 
ftyle fubulate ; ftigma (harp. Pericarpium : drupe ovate, 
acuminate. Seed: nut ovate, grooved.— EJfcntialCharac¬ 
ter. Male: calyx, three-toothed ; corolla, three-petalled; 
antherse, fix, felfile. Female: calyx, one-leafed; co¬ 
rolla, three-petalled ; piftillum, one ; ftigmas, three ; 
drupe, one-feeded. 
Elate fylvcftris, or prickly-leaved elate, a Angle fpe- 
cies : fronds pinnate ; leaflets oppofite. This palm..grows 
to the height of about fourteen feet, tlie trunk being co¬ 
vered with an afh.coloured cruft, clofely united with a 
very hard whitilh wood ; pinnate leaves break out from 
the top of the trunk only, in a decuffated order, the old 
ones .dropping off as the young ones lire >k forth; the 
flowers are concealed in ftift, green, coriaceous fpathe? ; 
