of the rocks, and a greatly increased shock must consequently be experienced in the passage of the wave from soft alluvial strata into the hard crystalline rocks, or vice versa. It was on this line of junction of the 2 formations that the most disastrous effects were experienced in the great earthquake in Calabria in 1783. It is by such an elastic wave, moving forward and suddenly back again, that Mr. Mallet explains the curious effects which have been observed in the twisting movement given to the blocks which form portions of columns, as if the upper stones had been partially turned around on the lower. Such effects were noticed by Darwin in the cathedral at Concepcion, and others of the same nature are described as having occurred to 2 obelisks in a convent in Calabria. The effect has also been referred to a vorticose or whirling motion, and by others to a rotary movement caused by the crossing of 2 waves of horizontal vibration. The Profs. Rogers "attribute the movement to an actual pulsation engendered in the molten matter itself by a linear disruption under enormous tension, giving vent explosively to elastic vapors, escaping either to the surface or into cavernous spaces beneath." By others the movement had previously been ascribed to elastic vapors, passing between the strata or between the crust and the fluid lava beneath it.-For further details the reader is referred to the work of Robert Mallet, O.E., and John W. Mallet, professor of chemistry in the university of Alabama, published in an octavo volume in 1858. It contains the able papers published from 1852 to 1858 in the "Transactions" of the British association for the advancement of science; that of 1858 reviewing the facts and theories of earthquakes, and illustrated by several fine maps. Mr. Mallet has also collected some interesting data respecting the distribution of earthquakes, having compiled a catalogue embracing nearly 6,000. In Guinea and southern Africa no earthquakes are recorded. The same may probably be said of Greenland. One spot in the Atlantic ocean, near the equator and about midway between Guinea and Brazil, appears to be peculiarly subject to them. Vessels passing over this tract almost always experience shocks, and the soundings are found to be subject to sudden and extreme variations, a depth of 400 fathoms being often directly succeeded by one beyond the reach of the sounding line. It is naturally inferred that this may be a submarine volcanic region.

EARTHS, in chemistry, a class of certain compounds of metallic bases and oxygen, which before the decomposition of some of them by Sir Humphry Davy were regarded as elementary bodies. The earths proper are alumina, glucina, zirconia, thoria, didymia, lantana, ceria, yttria, terbia, erbia. Silica, formerly regarded as an earth, is a combination of silicon with oxygen, and possesses the properties of an acid. The following possess alkaline properties, and are classed as alkaline earths: baryta, strontia, lime, magnesia, lithia. Excepting alumina, the

pure earths are rarely seen; they are insoluble in water, and when taken up by acid solvents are precipitated white by ammonia or soda. EARWIG, an orthopterous insect, of the family cursoria or runners, which also includes the cockroach; it belongs to the genus forficula (Linn.). All the 6 feet are formed for running; the wings are 4, the upper pair very short, coriaceous like the elytra of coleoptera, without veins, enclosing the under wings, which are folded both longitudinally and transversely; the mouth is formed for mastication; the body is long and somewhat flattened, and armed at the hinder end with a pair of curved blades shutting like scissors or nippers; there are 3 joints to the tarsus; the antennæ are filiform. These insects undergo a partial metamorphosis. They seem to form the connecting link between coleoptera and orthoptera, resembling the former in their elytra, and the latter in the shape of the wings and mouth, and the metamorphosis; for these reasons most English entomologists adopt for them the order dermaptera of Mr Kirby and Dr. Leach, considering them coleoptera with the metamorphosis and caudal appendages of orthoptera. They are common in moist earth, under stones, in decayed wood, and in similar damp and dark places; they are considered in Europe injurious to peaches, pears, apples, to greenhouse plants, and to pinks, dahlias, and other favorites of the flower garden. The full-grown insect, including its caudal forceps, is not quite an inch long, and its width is of an inch; the color is light brown, Being nocturnal insects, they creep in the daytime into any crevice or hole which can conceal them, and this has given rise to the popular belief that they enter the human ear; they might attempt this, but the waxy bitter secretion of the ear would probably prevent their entrance; there are no well authenticated instances of their doing this, and no harm could result if they did, as the drum of the ear would arrest them, and a drop or two of oil would soon destroy them by stopping up their respiratory trachea. The common way of catching them in England is by hanging up any convenient vessel or tube for them to crawl into in the morning, from which they are shaken and killed. In the larvæ there are no wings nor elytra, but the skin is changed several times; the nymph differs little from the perfect insect; in both these conditions they are voracious, even devouring each other. In this country there are several species, rather uncommon, and never injurious to vegetation.The many-footed creeping animal erroneously called earwig in America (genus iulus), is not an insect, but a myriapodous crustacean, equally innocent of entering the human ear.

EASDALE, or EISDALE, an island of the Hebrides group, about 1 m. long, and of nearly the same width, and noted for its slate quarries, which have been worked 150 years. The island consists entirely of slate stone, and has been so much cut away that a large part of it is now even with or below the level of the sea.

EAST (Anglo-Saxon, East; the corresponding

word in many other languages having a similar etymological significance), the quarter in which the heavenly bodies rise. Due east is the direction toward the east, precisely at right angles to a horizontal meridian line; the reverse direction is due west. An object is said to bear due east when it is seen exactly in this direction; but it is said to be due east when it is on the same parallel of latitude as the observer, i. e., when it may be connected with the observer by a line every point of which runs due east and west. An object that is due east will in N. latitudes bear N. of E., unless it be very near the observer, or he be very near the equator, for in other cases the parallel of latitude curves to the north, keeping at the same distance from the N. pole. A column of smoke, for example, over New York city, could it be seen at Nauvoo, would bear 54° N. of E., and smoke rising from Nauvoo would bear from New York 54° N. of W. The bearing is the direction in which a great circle from the observer through the object starts from the observer; while the course or actual direction is the direction of a line to the object cutting every meridian at the same angle. Madagascar is in a S. E. direction from New York, but bears due east. "Bearing" is sometimes used in the sense of course or actual direction instead of in the sense here given. East is a different direction for every spot on the earth's surface; at the poles there is no east or west; nor among the stars, except by reference to the nearest part of the earth's surface. EAST FELICIAÑA, a N. E. parish of Louisiana, bordering on the Mississippi and Amite rivers; area, about 480 sq. m.; pop. in 1855, 14,101, of whom 10,266 were slaves. It has a moderately uneven surface, and the soil is well watered, fertile, and easily tilled. There are forests of pine, oak, and bay, and extensive plantations of sugar and cotton. In 1855 the productions were 16,970 bales of cotton, 2,464 hogsheads of sugar, 448,475 bushels of Indian corn, and 3,857 barrels of molasses. Value of real estate, $2,079,735. The parish contains a lunatic asylum and a college. Capital, Clinton. EAST INDIA COMPANIES. The establishment of direct trade with the Indies was the aim of all the most enterprising cities and governments of early Europe. The Italian republics were long foremost in the trade, but they never entirely overcame the obstacles in the way of secure overland passage; and when the Turks were established in Europe and Africa by the conquest of Constantinople and Egypt, India became almost a closed land to the merchants of western Europe. Thus arose the necessity for a new channel of communication, less liable to interruption. Prince John of Portugal was foremost among the rulers who encouraged the then growing spirit of maritime exploration. A new way to the Indies was the dream of the day, under which Columbus discovered America, while Vasco da Gama first rounded the cape of Good Hope in 1497 and reached the Malabar coast in 1498. While the Spaniards

colonized the new world, the Portuguese estab lished themselves in India, and for nearly a century, with the help of the papal bulls in their favor, monopolized the trade, supplying all Europe with spices, silks, and Indian produce, and raising their country to the pinnacle of its wealth and power. When in 1580 Philip II. united Portugal to Spain, and presently began his war upon England, he closed the ports of his empire against British vessels. This was the first blow at the supremacy of Portuguese commerce in the East. The British were forced to get their supplies of Indian produce from the Dutch, who immediately raised the price of pepper by 200 per cent. The revolt of the Netherlands, and consequent exclusion of Dutch vessels also from Lis. bon, till then the great European depot for Indian wares, at once compelled the Dutch to seek a direct passage to India. The English were not slow to follow their example, and thus during the last 10 years of the 16th century was laid the foundation in Holland and England for the great commercial corporations known to history as East India companies. After the union of Spain and Portugal, the Portuguese East India commerce, founded in 1498 and conducted on government account, was managed with laxity; all kinds of corruption grew up among officers and servants, and it was presently found that the trade was a losing business for the government. Hereupon the exclusive privilege of commerce with India was in 1587 granted to a company of Portuguese merchants, in consideration of the annual payment of a stated sum. Attempting to enforce its rights in India, the agents of this company found themselves in collision with the Portuguese government there, which was engaged in smuggling; they found the Portu guese hated by the natives, and their designs thwarted wherever possible by the Arabs. On the breaking out of the war between England, Holland, and Spain, which struck a disastrous blow at the India trade, the Portuguese company became unable to pay. its annual tribute; and thenceforth it gradually declined, until in 1640 the company was finally abolished. Since that time the unimportant commerce of Portugal with India has been carried on by the crown; though an unsuccessful attempt was made in 1731 to estab lish another company.-The Dutch, driven from the southern passage, monopolized by the Portuguese, made three unsuccessful attempts at the opening of a way by the ocean which bounds Europe on the north. A north-east passage was never discovered, and the wars turned southward the attention of the Dutch. A "Company for Remote Parts" was formed at Amsterdam, and on April 2, 1595, 8 years after the establishment of the new Portuguese company, 4 small vessels, equipped with a capital of 70,000 guilders, sailed from the Texel under the command of Cornelius Houtmann, bound around the cape of Good Hope. Houtmann had been a prisoner, whether among the Turks or the Portuguese is uncertain, and was acquainted with the Portuguese East India trade. Several other companies, start

ed in others of the United Provinces, finally joined that of Amsterdam, and in March, 1602, they received a charter from the states-general conferring on them the exclusive privilege of trade to the East Indies for 21 years, with the necessary civil and military powers. They began with a capital of 6,500,000 guilders; 6 towns were interested; 65 directors, chosen in stated numbers from each, equipped the vessels; 15 others had the general direction of affairs. They were so successful that in 20 years they divided among the stockholders the large sum of 30,000,000 guilders, more than 4 times the amount of the capital, beside owning vast amounts of property in colonies, fortifications, and vessels. The charter was extended to 1644; Batavia was founded; the commerce with Japan, which returned silver and copper for commodities, was extended; in 1641 Malacca, capital of the then neglected Portuguese East India possessions, fell into the hands of the Dutch by the treachery of the governor; and from 34 to 41 freighted vessels were sent out annually, of which from 25 to 34 returned loaded. Yet so rapidly did the English and French commerce increase during these years, that in 1644 the Dutch East India company could scarce command the 1,600,000 guilders required as a subsidy to the government, on again renewing its charter for 21 years. The peace of Westphalia, which secured the independence of the republic of the United Provinces, once more gave the company life. Between 1650 and 1670 they colonized the cape of Good Hope, at an expense of 20,000,000 guilders. In 1658 they succeeded in wresting Ceylon from the Portuguese; and the island of Formosa, which they then held, received a valuable colony of 30,000 expatriated Chinese, who brought industry and wealth with them. In 1661 they lost Formosa-Koxinga, a Chinese adventurer, expelling them from it. In 1663 they took possession of the most valuable Portuguese settlements on the Malabar coast. In 1666, after a prolonged struggle, they gained Macassar, and with it the monopoly of the spice trade. In 1665 the charter was with much opposition renewed till 1700, on condition of the payment of a large sum. At this time the civil and military expenses of the company, exclusive of those of the Macassar war, amounted to 3,500,000 guilders. Their report showed a prodigious extension of commerce and of territory. They held the principal seats of commerce in Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and in fact throughout the Indian archipelago. They commanded the trade with Pegu, Siam, Tonquin, Japan, the Banda and Molucca isles, Amboyna, &c. Batavia was then in all its glory, and the straits of Sunda on which it is situated had become, instead of those of Malacca, the channel to the further Indies. The charter was renewed in 1701, in 1741, and in 1776, the last time for 30 years, and on condition of paying down 2,000,000 guilders, with 360,000 annually. Turning their hands against every one in the East, and seeking by oppression of natives, exclusion of

Europeans, and the forced production of some spices with prohibition of the cultivation of others, to rule the markets of the world and to extend and consolidate their dominion and wealth, the company was yet so exhausted by war with England and political expenses, that in 1781 the states-general were obliged to assist it with a loan. In the first French revolution it lost nearly all its possessions. The establishment of the Batavian republic, Sept. 15, 1795, terminated its existence, and the affairs of the company passed into the hands of the government. A new company was established in 1824, called the Handel Maatschapij or trading association. This company is the agent for the sale of the government produce in Europe, the carrier of this produce, and farms some branches of the public revenue of Java and the other Dutch East India colonies. In 1851 this company sent to Europe about $20,000,000 worth of produce, while the amount sent from the same colonies by private merchants was only about $10,000,000. The Dutch are still noted throughout the East for their narrow policy, and their extreme severity toward the natives whom they have reduced to their yoke.— A French East India company, founded in 1740, was broken up in 1770. A Danish East India company was founded in 1618, dissolved in 1634, reconstituted in 1670, and again dissolved in 1729. A new company, formed in 1732 under the name of the Danish Asiatic company, was prosperous during the 18th century, but has since declined, especially since 1845, when Denmark ceded Tranquebar and Serampore to Great Britain. A Swedish India company, established in Gottenburg toward the middle of the 18th century, and renewed in 1806, is still in existence; its operations, however, are inconsiderable. -The English endeavored to open commercial intercourse with India as early as 1553, during the reign of Edward VI.; but their expeditions sent out overland failed of reaching their des tination, from want of geographical knowledge. The next attempts were made by sea, the belief being that a north-west passage about the upper part of the newly discovered American continent was practicable, and that this would give to England a channel to the Indies, over which the pope (who, in his capacity of chief of Christendom, had granted to the Portuguese the exclusive right to pass round the cape of Good Hope, a right which was long respected) would have no control, and which would enable them to compete successfully with the Portuguese. John Cabot, looking for India in 1497, had discovered Newfoundland. In 1553 his son Sebastian took charge of 3 vessels, to discover a northeast passage to India. This was sent out by a company chartered by Edward VI. with a capital of £6,000. In 1581 the English Turkish company endeavored, but without success, to pass overland to India. Meantime the desire for Indian wealth, the arbitrary closing of the Portuguese markets against British and Dutch, and the impossibility of going to India by the north, all conspired to make the British mer

chants lose respect for the pope's bull and its prescribed boundaries, and to set out for India by the forbidden route. On Sept. 22, 1599, a company of London merchants was formed, representing a capital of £30,133, which received a charter from Queen Elizabeth, Dec. 31, 1600, under the title of the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading with the East Indies." The charter was for 15 years, and granted the exclusive right of trading to all countries from the cape of Good Hope eastward to the straits of Magellan, excepting those which were possessed by friendly European powers. The first Englishman who sailed to India by way of the cape of Good Hope was a Capt. Stephens, in 1582. Sir Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish followed by way of Cape Horn. The latter sailed from England in July, 1586, in a small squadron fitted at his own expense, explored all the Indian ocean as far as the Philippines, and returned with a valuable stock of information in Sept. 1588. Two large Portuguese carracks laden with all the riches of the Indies fell into the hands of the English about 1593, and, beside rousing the cupidity and enterprise of their captors, were found to possess documents and charts of the greatest importance to the merchants shortly to adventure a trading expedition into unknown parts. These circumstances facilitated the formation of the company, of which Thomas Smythe, Esq., was the first governor, assisted by 24 directors named in the charter. The charter empowered them to elect a governor and directors and other office-bearers; to make by-laws for their government; to inflict punishments, corporal or pecuniary, on those in their employ, provided such punishments be within the laws of Great Britain; to export all goods duty free for 4 years, and to export foreign coins as bullion to the amount of £30,000 a year, £6,000 of the same being previously recoined at the mint; with the proviso, however, that they must import within 6 months from the conclusion of every voyage after the first an amount of specie equal to that before exported. It was also provided that should the company not be found to the public advantage, its charter might be cancelled after 2 years' notice given. There does not seem, after all, to have been very great zeal in fitting out vessels. Many of the stockholders did not pay up, and until 1613 but a small part of them united at all in the speculation, and these each on his own account, only using the ships of the company, and conforming to certain other regulations. The first expedition to India sailed under command of Capt. Lancaster, Feb. 15, 1601, from Torbay. It consisted of 5 ships, varying in size from 130 to 600 tons, having a cargo of bullion, iron, tin, broadcloths, cutlery, glass, &c. The entire venture, ships and all, was valued at £69,091. It arrived at Acheen, Sumatra, June 5, 1602. Lancaster made treaties with the kings of Acheen and Bantam, and returned to the Downs, Sept. 11, 1603, with a cargo of pepper and other produce, and a

prize-a richly laden Portuguese carrack of 980 tons burden, taken with the aid of a Dutch vessel. For several years the expeditions were not increased in size or value, but were generally fortunate in their results. The profits for the first 8 years were stated at 171 per cent.; but when it is remembered that a voyage lasted from 2 to 4 years, that long credits were given for goods sold, and that consequently it was often 6 to 8 years from the beginning of a voyage ere its accounts were settled, the profits were not so enormous as they look; and taking into consid eration the real and the fancied risks, it is not surprising that the business of the company did not more rapidly enlarge. The profits of the trade with the islands were never very satisfactory, however. In 1607 Capt. Hawkins was sent out to endeavor to establish commercial intercourse with the dominions of the Great Mogul. His mission proved of no avail, the Portuguese in triguing successfully against him. In 1612 Capt. Beal obtained from the court at Delhi several considerable privileges, among which was that of establishing a factory at Surat, which city became at once the chief British station in India, until the organization of Bombay, Factories were depots for goods, fortified, in order to protect the lives and property of resident representatives of the company. They invari ably proved the entering wedges for territorial aggrandizement on the part of the Europeans. In 1613 the capital of the company was united; the largest stockholders took the management of affairs, and these were so prosperous that in the course of 4 years the shares of the company rose to the value of 203 per cent., while its fac tories were extended to Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the Banda islands, Celebes, Malacca, Siam, the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, but chiefly to the dominions of the Great Mogul, whose favor the company had secured, after divers fruitless attempts. From the beginning of the company's trade to July, 1620, they had sent 79 ships to India, of which 34 had come safely home richly laden, 4 had been worn out in In dia, and 20 had been lost-2 by careening, 6 by sea perils, and 12 captured by the Dutch. At that time (1620) the capital of the company in ships, goods in India, &c., amounted to £400, 000; they had exported from England to India the value of £840,376; had imported what cost £356,288 in India, which brought no less than £1,914,600 in England; and finally quarrels with the Dutch, their most energetic rivals, had occasioned losses to the amount of £84,088. In 1616 a new stock subscription had been opened, and £1,629,040 was raised. But in 1627 complaints were made of abuses and bad manage ment in the company; during the reign of the Stuarts there was much murmuring against the monopoly, and Charles I. in 1635 gave to Sir William Courten and several private individuals the right to trade to India. În 1645 permission was given by the natives to the company to build Fort St. George at Madras. In 1655 Cromwell attempted, but vainly to make the

East India trade free. In 1657 he renewed the company's charter, which was confirmed by Charles IL in 1661, who at the same time conferred on them the further powers to make peace or war with any power not of the Christian religion; to establish fortifications, garrisons, and colonies; to export ammunition and stores to their settlements duty free; to exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction in their settlements according to English law; and to seize and send to England all Englishmen found trading on their private account. The years 1667'68 witnessed the beginning of the tea trade-a branch of commerce which in a very few years proved to be of vast importance to the company. In 1669 the island of Bombay was granted to the company by Charles II., who had received it as part of the marriage portion of the princess Catharine of Portugal; but its possession was not secured without a long struggle between the English and the Portuguese residents. In 1676 a factory was established on the banks of the Hoogly, which formed the foundation of Calcutta; and other factories were shortly started in Bengal. In 1677 the company received a renewal of its charter, with indemnity for past misuses, and permission to establish a mint at Bombay. In 1681, by a report of the governor, the company had 35 ships, of from 100 to 700 tons, trading between India and England, or coastwise in India; and the exports from England of lead, tin, cloth, stuffs, &c., amounted to from £60,000 to £70,000 a year. The trade was astonishingly small; the affairs of the company were not prosperous, and in 1688 doubts were thrown upon the validity of its charter by the numerous interlopers and free traders to India. In 1693, after a heavy struggle, it received a renewal of its charter. In 1694 a vote of the house of commons threw open the trade to all England. In 1698 a new company received a charter (conferring much the same privileges as those of the old one), for the consideration of a loan of £2,000,000 to the state. The two companies could not live independently, and in 1702 they were united, under the title of "The United Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies." They advanced a further sum to the state, making in all a loan of £3,200,000, at 3 per cent., in consideration of which their charter was extended until the expiration of a notice of 3 years, which could not be given sooner than March, 1726, nor until the money borrowed by government should be repaid. The act ratifying this was passed in 1708. By it the local affairs of the company were intrusted to the 3 councils of Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, while the general direction was retained in England. Meanwhile, in 1698 the company had acquired a grant of Calcutta and two adjoining villages, with right of jurisdiction over the inhabitants, and leave to erect fortifications, which was immediately done. In 1701 an act prohibited the importation into England of manufactured Indian goods. In 1715 an embassy to the emperor Feroksere obtained from him various

highly important concessions for the company, among which were liberty for them to purchase the lordship of 37 towns contiguous to Calcutta, to sue and have given up to them all persons in Bengal indebted to them, and leave to pass goods for exportation duty free through the province. In 1732 the renewal of the charter was obtained with much difficulty. In 1744 the company bought its extension to 1780 by a loan of £1,000,000 at 3 per cent.-The political power of the British in India began in 1748. The acquisitions of the company were inaugurated in 1749 by its expulsion and ultimate protection of the rajah of Tanjore, he making some concessions of territory on each occasion of the British exercise of protection. In 1757 they deposed Surajah Dowlah, nabob of Bengal, gaining thereby several large and rich provinces. In 1761 the defeat of the French left the English free to pursue their schemes of aggrandizement in India. In 1792 Tippoo Sahib was compelled by Cornwallis to give up half his dominions, and £3,500,000 in bullion. In 1799 Seringapatam was taken, Tippoo slain, and some more territory annexed. Subsequently, by war with the Pindarees, with Burmah, Nepaul, the Afghans, &c., and by judicious protection, interference, and annexation, the company mastered the whole of Hindostan, with small exceptions. The sudden increase of territory and power in India threw every thing into confusion. ruption reigned everywhere. The revenues fell short of expenses, and in 1772 the company, notwithstanding its immense possessions and privileges, was obliged to raise a loan of £6,000000 from the bank of England, and of £1,400,000 from government, for current expenses. In 1778 reform was called for, but only incompletely effected. In 1781 the privileges of the company were extended to 1791, with 3 years' notice; the dividend on its stock was fixed at 8 per cent.; £400,000 was to be paid as an annual subsidy to the government, and 4 of the surplus revenue after paying the subsidy was to go to the government, I to the company's use. Yet in 1780 the East India trade formed only

Cor

part of the entire foreign trade of the empire. In 1783 the company was again so involved, on account of wars, &c., as to be unable to pay the subsidy. In the same year, on the proposition of Mr. Pitt, a board of control was appointed. It consisted of such members of the British privy council as the sovereign of England chose to appoint, the 2 principal secretaries of state and the chancellor of the exchequer being 3 of the members. The president was usually a cabinet minister. The salaries of the president, paid commissioner, and secretary were paid by the company. In 1793 the charter was prolonged to 1814. From that date the charter was again prolonged 20 years, but the trade to India was substantially thrown open, though the monopoly of the trade to China was continued, and did not cease till 1834. Parliament in 1833 granted a new charter, by which: 1, the company ceased to be a trading