a storm.

The French cuirassiers chased the Austrian cavalry, destined to cover Ratisbon, over the Danube. The FrenchBavarian artillery made a breach in the walls, the French infantry, headed by Lannes, forced their way into the city, and, after a bloody combat in the streets, Napoleon became master of Ratisbon. Napoleon was slightly wounded in his foot by a spent musket-ball, on the 23d. His bulletin of the 24th announced that the fruits of the five days' campaign, of the three victories at Tann, Abensberg and Eckmühl, and the combats at Freising, Landshut, and Ratisbon, were 100 cannon, 40 stands of colors, 50,000 prisoners, 3 pontons and 3000 wagons; and added, "in four weeks, we shall be in Vienna." Davoust, duke of Auerstadt, received the title of prince of Eckmühl. The same day, Napoleon abolished the Teutonic order in all the states of the confederation of the Rhine. The consequences of the battles of Eckmühl and Ratisbon were very important. The Austrian general Jellachich was obliged to evacuate Munich, which the king of Bavaria reentered on the 25th. The Austrian main army, strengthened by the corps of Bellegarde, retired, under the arch-duke Charles, to Budweis, in Bohemia, and was concentrated on the left bank of the Danube, at the foot of the Bisamberg, and on the Marchfield, ready for the more famous combats at Aspern and Wagram. Charles, however, was not able to save Vienna. Napoleon advanced along the right bank of the Danube, notwithstanding the insurrection in the Tyrol, and passed the Inn. On the 3d of May, general Hiller made an obstinate resistance at Ebensberg, with 35,000 men, but was compelled to retreat to the left bank of the Danube. The French passed the Ems, and advanced to the capital of Austria, which capitulated May 12. On the 13th, Napoleon fixed his head-quarters at Schönbrunn. May 20, Napoleon crossed to the left bank, and thus brought on the memorable battles upon the Marchfield, that of Aspern, or Essling, and that of Wagram. This whole campaign is highly interesting and instructive to a military man, who may derive useful lessons from the conduct of both parties; from that of Napoleon, who followed up a grand plan with unprecedented ability and spirit; and from that of Charles, who displayed great military skill in his manœuvres, as was always acknowledged by the victors.

ECLECTICS (from the Greek KλEKTIKds,

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select, from yw, to select) is a name given to all those philosophers who do not follow one system entirely, but select what they think the best parts of all systems. Their philosophy is also called eclectic. In the history of philosophy, this term is chiefly applied to that sect of Greek philosophers, who strove to unite and reconcile the opinions of Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle, and to bring them into one harmonious system. ECLIPSE.

An Eclipse of the Moon is a privation of the light of the moon, occasioned by an interposition of the earth between the sun and the moon; consequently, all eclipses of the moon happen at full moon; for it is only when the moon is in opposition, that it can come within the earth's shadow, which must always be on that side of the earth which is from the sun. The earth being in the plane of the ecliptic, the centre of its shadow is always in that plane; if, therefore, the moon be in its nodes, that is, in the plane of the ecliptic, the shadow of the earth will fall upon it. This shadow, being of considerable breadth, is partly above and partly below the plane of the ecliptic; if, therefore, the moon in opposition be so near one of its nodes, that its latitude is less than half the breadth of the shadow, it will be eclipsed. But, because the plane of the moon's orbit makes an angle of more than five degrees with the plane of the ecliptic, it will frequently have too much latitude, at its opposition, to allow it to come within the shadow of the earth.

An Eclipse of the Sun is an occultation of part of the face of the sun, occasioned by an interposition of the moon between the earth and the sun; thus all eclipses of the sun happen at the time of new moon. The dark or central part of the moon's shadow, where the sun's rays are wholly intercepted, is called the umbra, and the light part, where only a part of them are intercepted, is called the penumbra; and it is evident, that if a spectator be situated on that part of the earth where the umbra falls, there will be a total eclipse of the sun at that place; in the penumbra there will be a partial eclipse, and beyond the penumbra, there will be no eclipse. As the earth is not always at the same distance from the moon, if an eclipse should happen when the earth is so far from the moon that the rays of light proceeding from the upper and lower limbs of the sun cross each other before they come to the earth, a spectator situated on the earth, in a direct line between the centres of the

sun and moon, would see a ring of light round the dark body of the moon; such an eclipse is called annular; when this happens, there can be no total eclipse any where, because the moon's umbra does not reach the earth. People situated in the penumbra will perceive a partial eclipse; and an eclipse can never be annular longer than 12 minutes 24 seconds, nor total longer than 7 minutes 58 seconds; nor can the duration of an eclipse of the sun ever exceed 4 hours, 29′ 44′′.

The sun being larger than the earth, the earth's shadow is a cone, whose base is on the surface of the earth, and the moon is eclipsed by a section of the earth's shadow. If the earth were larger than, or equal to, the sun, its shadow would either perpetually enlarge, or be always of the same dimension; but, in this case, the superior planets would sometimes come within it, and be eclipsed, which never happens. Therefore the sun is larger than the earth, and produces a shadow from the earth of a conical form, which does not extend to the orbit of Mars. An eclipse of the moon is partial when only a part of its disc is within the shadow of the earth; it is total when all its disc is within the shadow; and it is central when the centre of the earth's shadow falls upon the centre of the moon's disc. Now, the nearer any part of the penumbra is to the umbra, the less light it receives from the sun; and as the moon enters the penumbra before she enters the umbra, she gradually loses her light, and appears less brilliant. The duration of an eclipse of the moon, from her first touching the earth's penumbra to her leaving it, does not exceed five hours and a half. The moon does not continue in the earth's umbra longer than three hours and three quarters in any eclipse, neither is she totally eclipsed for a longer period than one hour and three quarters. As the moon is actually deprived of her light during an eclipse, every inhabitant upon the face of the earth, who sees the moon, sees the eclipse. An eclipse of the sun, as we have said, happens when the moon, passing between the sun and the earth, intercepts the sun's light; and the sun can only be eclipsed at the new moon, or when the moon, at its conjunction, is in or near one of its nodes. For, unless the moon is in or near one of its nodes, it cannot appear in or near the same plane with the sun; without which it cannot appear to us to pass over the disc of the sun. At every other part of its orbit, it will have so much northern or southern lati

tude, as to appear above or below the sun. If the moon be in one of its nodes, having no altitude, it will cover the whole disc of the sun, and produce a total eclipse, except when its apparent diameter is less than that of the sun; if it be near one of its nodes, having a small degree of latitude, it will only pass over a part of the sun's disc, or produce a partial eclipse. In a total eclipse of the sun, the shadow or umbra of the moon falls upon that part of the earth where the eclipse is seen, and a spectator, placed in the shadow, will not see any part of the sun, because the moon will intercept all the rays of light coming directly from the sun. In a partial eclipse of the sun, a penumbra, or imperfect shadow of the moon, falls upon that part of the earth where the partial eclipse is seen. Were the orbit of the earth and that of the moon both in the same plane, there would be an eclipse of the sun every new moon, and an eclipse of the moon every full moon. But the orbit of the moon makes an angle of five degrees and a quarter with the plane of the earth's orbit, and crosses it in two points, called the nodes. Astronomers have calculated, that if the moon be less than 17° 21′ from either node, at the time of new moon, the sun may be eclipsed; or if less than 11° 34′ from either node, at the full moon, the moon may be eclipsed; at all other times there can be no eclipse, for the shadow of the moon will fall either above or below the earth at the time of new moon; and the shadow of the earth will fall either above or below the moon, at the time of full moon. An eclipse of the sun begins on the western side of his disc, and ends on the eastern; and an eclipse of the moon begins on the eastern side of her disc, and ends on the western. The average number of eclipses in a year is four, two of the sun, and two of the moon; and as the sun and moon are as long below the horizon of any particular place as they are above it, the average number of visible eclipses in a year is two, one of the sun and one of the moon. (See Astronomy.)

ECLIPTIC; the sun's path; the great circle of the celestial sphere, in which the sun appears to describe his annual course from west to east. The Greeks observed that eclipses of the sun and moon took place near this circle; whence they called it the ecliptic, from eclipses. By a little attention, we shall see that the sun does not always rise to the same height in the meridian, but seems to revolve round the earth in a spiral (see Day). We likewise

observe every day, at its rising and setting, new stars in the neighborhood of the sun. It will also be seen, that the sun is in the equator twice a year; about March 22 and September 22. The points of the equator, at which the sun is stationary on these days, are at the intersection of the equator with the ecliptic. June 21, the sun reaches its greatest height in the heavens; and December 21, it descends the lowest. Because the sun appears to turn back at these points, they are called the tropics; and the times at which the turning appears to commence are called solstices (solstitia, solis stationes). At these points, the sun has attained its greatest distance from the equator. These four points, the equinoctial and solstitial points, are distant from one another a quarter of a circle, or 90 degrees. Each of these quadrants, or quarters of a circle, is divided into 3 equal arcs of 30 degrees; thus the whole ecliptic is divided into 12 equal arcs or signs: these receive their names from certain constellations through which the ecliptic passes, and which extend each 30 degrees. The constellations, or 12 celestial signs, succeed one another in the following order, from the vernal equinox, reckoned towards the east:

Aries, March 20.

8 Taurus, April 20.
Gemini, May 21.
Cancer, June 21.
Leo, July 22.
my Virgo, August 23.

Libra, September 23.
m Scorpio, October 23.
↑ Sagittarius, November 22.
Capricornus, December 21.
Aquarius, January 19.
Pisces, February 18.

The days of the month annexed show when the sun, in its annual revolution, enters each of the signs of the zodiac. The 30 degrees in every sign are divided into minutes and seconds, not reckoned separately, but after the signs. An arc of the ecliptic, for example, of 97° 15′ 27′′, reckoned from Aries, eastward, is called 3 signs, 7° 15′ 27" long, or, what is the same thing, it terminates in 7° 15′ 27" of Cancer. In this way the longitude of the stars is given. The ecliptic, like all circles, has two poles, which move about the poles of the earth every 24 hours, and in this manner describe the polar circles. What appears to be the path of the sun, however, is, in reality, the path of the earth. The planets and the moon revolve in different planes; but these are

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inclined at only a very small angle to the plane of the ecliptic; hence these bodies can be but a small distance from the ecliptic. The plane of the ecliptic is very important in theoretical astronomy, because the courses of all the other planets are projected upon it, and reckoned by it. By the obliquity of the ecliptic we understand its inclination to the equator, or the angles formed by the planes of these two great circles. This angle is measured by the arc of a third great circle, drawn so as to intersect the two others perpendicularly, in the points at which they are farthest apart. These points of intersection are 90 degrees distant from those points at which the equator and ecliptic intersect each other, i. e. the solstitial points. The ancients endeavored to measure the obliquity of the ecliptic. According to Pliny, it was first determined by Anaximander; according to Gassendi, it had been ascertained by Thales. The most celebrated measurement of this obliquity in ancient times was made by Pytheas, at Marseilles. He found it, 350 B. Č., to be 23° 49′ 23′′. A hundred years later, according to Ptolemy, Eratosthenes found it to be 23° 51' 20. Various measurements have subsequently taken place, even down to our own time; and it is remarkable that almost every measurement makes the angle less than those which preceded it. Among the modern estimates are that of Cassini, 23° 28′ 35′′; of La Caille, 23° 28′ 19′′; of Bradley, 23° 28′ 18′′; and of Mayer, 23° 28′ 16′′ the observations of Delambre, Maskelyne, Piazzi, Bessel and others, give this important astronomical element, for the year 1800, at 23° 27′ 56′′. In respect to the decrease of the inclination of the ecliptic, the most celebrated astronomers of our time, as Lalande, adopted the opinion that this decrease continues uninterruptedly. Louville determined the annual decrease to be l′, La Caille 44", and Lalande 33". Several philosophers of modern times concluded, from these observations, that the equator and the ecliptic were formerly in the same plane; that the shock of a comet, or some mighty revolution on the earth, gave the axis of our planet this inclination, and that, for thousands of years, the axis has been returning to its original position, which it will reach after 190,000 years. Laplace, on the contrary, in his Mécanique Céleste, showed that this will never take place, but that the decrease of the angle between the planes of the equator and the ecliptic depends merely upon a periodical effect, arising from the action of the other planets; that,

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after a certain time, it will increase again, and that the limits of variation are narrow and fixed. A very long space of time will be required to make satisfactory observations respecting this fact. The inclination of the ecliptic, or, which is the same thing, the inclination of the axis of the earth towards the ecliptic, is subject to another change, which makes it increase and decrease alternately for nine years, during which time the greatest difference amounts to 18": of this more is said under the article Nutation of the Earth's Aris. (See Astronomy, Degree, Equinoctial, Day &c.)

ECLOGUE, in poetry; a select piece, of any sort; in general, select poems, or several poems of the same form; thus the satires of Horace were called eclogues. Since Virgil's Bucolics received this name (from grammarians, probably, and not from the poet), the term eclogues has usually been applied to what Theocritus called idyls, short, highly finished poems, principally of a pastoral nature. (See Idyl.) ECONOMY, POLITICAL. (See Political Economy.)

EDAM; a town of North Holland, near the Zuyder-Zee; 12 miles north of Amsterdam; lon. 5° 3′ E.; lat. 52° 31' N.; population, 2745. It is built in a triangular form, and has a good port, formed by the river Ey, on which it stands, and which, with the dam thrown up against the inundations of that river, gives its name to the town. This place is chiefly noted for its trade in cheese: in 1801, not less than 6,660,631 pounds of Dutch cheese were weighed here. The two great divisions of Dutch cheese are sweet milk and curds. The latter is also called komyne (cummin) cheese, also kastert. The Edam cheese is all sweet milk cheese, which is again divided, according to its rind, into red and white. Its mean price is from 20 to 25 guilders for 100 pounds. A large quantity goes to England. The whole annual production of cheese in Holland is estimated at 30 millions of pounds.

EDDA; two collections of ancient Icelandic poems, which, as they came from the Norwegians (Normans), who emigrated to Iceland, are of German origin. They are the chief source of the mythology of the gods and heroes of the north of Europe. The first of these collections, called the Older or Samundic Edda, is said to have been prepared by Samund Sigfusson, a learned Icelandish clergyman, and Are Frode, the oldest historian of the north, who lived from 1056 to 1133, and

studied at Paris. Sigfusson's life has been written by Arne Magnæus, and is annexed to the first part of the Edda. But this statement of its origin, as well as its claim to the general name Edda, has been denied. It consists of a number of the poems of the Scalds and the most ancient traditionary songs; hence the name of Old Edda (mother of poetry). This Edda was formerly concealed and forgotten in Iceland for 400 years. A part of it seems to be lost for ever. In 1643, the best copy extant of these old poems, written on parchment, was found and rescued from decay by bishop Brynjolf Svensen. The Edda has since been considerably studied, and the following portions have been published:-Begthamgsnida, Voluspa (prophecies), Havamaal (elevated conversation), · and Runa Capitule, or the Runic chapter (in which Odin boasts of his power in magic songs). From these poems, then complete, and other songs, the prose exe tracts were formed, perhaps 120 years later, called the Younger Edda, ascribed to Snorro Sturleson, lagmann of Iceland, and sewer of king Haco, about A. D. 1200. This extract forms a kind of system and cyclus of those songs, and is to be considered as a religious system (of course, no longer believed at the time when it was compiled), and, as a compend of the old Norse poetry, showing the versification and grammatical structure of the language. It is of much importance, too, on account of the numerous hiatuses in the ancient songs of the country, of which it often gives passages. The work was afterwards still more extended and remodeled. It consists of three parts, of which the first is dogmatical; the second, narrative; and the third, entitled Scalda, contains an alphabetical index of the poetical idioms which are found in the preceding parts. The Icelandic text of this Edda, with numerous, but very erroneous translations, was published by Resenius, Copenhagen, 1665, 4to.: hence it is also called the Resenian Edda. A better edition was published by Rask, Stockholm, 1818. Nyerup published a Danish translation (Copenhagen, 1808), and has done much for the general elucidation of the Edda. There is a German translation by Bühs (Berlin, 1812). The first part of the Older or Samundic Edda was printed in the original text, 1787, by the Magnæan institute, animated by the zeal of Suhm, accompanied with a Latin translation and a glossary, both prepared principally by Gudemand Magnæus. The second part was published in 1818, by the