tinual claim, by law considered equivalent to entry. A right of entry is when a party may have his remedy, either by entering into the lands, or by action to recover it. A title of entry is where one has a lawful entry in the land which another has, but has no action to recover it till he has entered. Entry is a summary remedy against certain species of injury by ouster, or putting out of possession of lands; when the party must make a formal but peaceable entry, declaring that he takes possession; or may enter upon any part in the same county in the name of the whole; and if he cannot go upon the land for bodily fear, he may make a claim as near the estate as he can, which must be repeated once within every year and day, and is called continual claim. This remedy is admitted only where the adverse possession originally commenced by wrong, as in the instances technically called abatement, intrusion, or disseisin. On a discontinuance or deforcement, the party is put to his action. Even in the former cases, when the original wrongful possessor dies, and the land comes to his heir, the right of entry is tolled, i. e. taken away by the descent. If the claimant was under disability, from age, coverture, &c. the entry is not tolled by descent; nor in case of an actual disseisin, unless the disseisor was in peaceable possession for five years. Stat. 32 Henry VIII. c. 33. Entry must be made within 20 years after the claimant's right shall accrue, 21 Jac. 1. c. 16; and by 4 and 5 Anne, c. 16, no entry shall avail to save this statute, unless an action is commenced and prosecuted with effect upon it within one year after; and, finally, by stat. 5 Ric. II. st. 1. c. 8, entry must be pursued in a peaceable manner; for if one turns or keeps another out of possession forcibly, it is not only the subject of a civil remedy, but of a fine and punishment for a misdemeanor. ENTRY, the writ of, is a possessory remedy, which disproves the title of the tenant or possessor, by shewing the unlawful means by which he entered or continues in possession. It was formerly an usual mode of recovering lands, but is now disused for the more convenient action of ejectment, and is never brought when that remedy can be used. There is much nice technical learning concerning it, which it would be vain to attempt to abridge in a popular work. It derives different denominations from : the different cases to which the writ is applied, and those are generally derived from the terms in which it states the wrongful entry to have been made, or sets out the different degrees of descent, through which the lands have passed in the possession of the wrongful tenants. After a certain degree of descents, these are no longer noticed in the writ. The writ against the immediate wrong doer is called a writ of entry in nature of assize that upon one descent, an entry sur disseisin in the per; and upon an entry where the first disseisor has enfeoffed another, and he a third, it is an entry sur disseisin in le per et eni. An entry in le post states only that the tenant hath not entry but after (post) the disseisin of A. B. which is allowed in cases beyond the foregoing degrees. There are other writs adapted to particular cases, which we shall only mention by name, and refer to the larger dictionaries of the law for their precise meaning: such are ENTRY ad communem legem, for the reversioner of tenants in dower by courtesy for life, &c. ENTRY ad terminum qui præterit, a writ for the reversioner, after the end of a term or estate for life, against a stranger in possession. ENTRY in casu consimili. ENTRY causa matrimonii prælocuti. Several points of law occur, as to the effect of an entry in the case of joint tenancy and coparcenary; of entry by the heir of entry to divest an estate; to take advantage of a condition which cannot be investigated here; but in general it may be observed, that a bare entry, without expulsion, makes only a seisin; so that the law thereupon adjudges him in possession who has the right. ENVELOPE, in fortification, a work of earth, sometimes in form of a simple parapet, and at others like a small rampart with a parapet: it is raised sometimes on the ditch, and sometimes beyond it. ENVOY, a person deputed to negotiate some affair with any foreign prince or state. Those sent from the courts of France, Britain, Spain, &c. to any petty prince or state, such as the princes of Germany, the republics of Venice, Genoa, &c. go in quality of envoys, not embassadors, and such a character only do those persons bear, who go from any of the principal courts of Europe to another, when the affair they go upon is not very solemn or important. There are envoys ordinary and extraordinary, as well as embassadors; they are equally the same under the protection of the law of nations, and enjoy all the privileges of embassadors, only differing from them in this, that the same ceremonies are not performed to them. ENURE, in law, to take place or ef fect, or be available, as a release made to a tenant for a term of life shall enure to him in the reversion. EPACRIS, in botany, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. Calyx five-parted; corolla funnel-form, villous; nectariferous scales, growing to the germ; capsule five-celled, five-valv. ed; the partitions from the middle of the valves; seeds minute and numerous. There are four species, natives of New Zealand. EPACT, a number arising from the excess of the common solar year above the lunar, whereby the age of the moon may be found out every year. See CHRONOLOGY. The excess of the solar year above the lunar is 11 days; or the epact of any year expresses the number of days from the last new moon of the old year, which was the beginning of the present lunar year, to the first of January. The first year of the cycle of the moon, the epact is 0, because the lunar year begins with the solar. On the second, the lunar year has begun 11 days before the solar year, therefore the epact is 11. On the third, it has begun twice 11 before the solar year therefore the epact is 22. On the fourth, it begins three times 11 days sooner than the solar year, the epact would therefore be 33, but 30 days, being a synodical month, must that year be intercalated; or that year must be reckoned to consist of thirteen synodical months, and there remains three, which is the true epact of the year; and so on to the end of the cycle, adding 11 to the epact of the last year, and always rejecting 30, gives the epact of the present year. Thus, to adjust the lunar year to the solar through the whole of 19 years, 12 of them must consist of 12 synodical months each, and 7 of 13, by adding a month of 30 days to every year when the epact would exceed 30, and a month of 29 days to the last year of the cycle, which makes in all 209 days, i. e. 19×11; so that the intercalary or embolimean years in this cycle are 4, 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 19. If the new moons returned exactly at the same time after the expiration of 23 nineteen years, as the council of Nice supposed they would do (when they fix. ed the rule for the observation of Easter, and marked the new moons in the calen dar for each year of the lunar cycle) then the golden number, multiplied by 11, would always give the epact. But in a Julian century, the new moons anticipate, or happen earlier, than that council imagined they would by 8 of a day. In a Gregorian common century, which is one day shorter than a Julian century, they happen 17 of a day later, (1 day23-17). Now 17 × 3 = §1 for the three common centuries, but being subtracted, on account of the Gregorian bissextile century, there will remain 3. Therefore, in four Gregorian centuries, the new moons will happen later by 43, of a day, and the epacts must be decreased accordingly. 8 = 25 23' Example for the year 1808, Golden Number 4. 4-1 x 11-30=3= Epact. EPAULE, in fortification, denotes the shoulder of a bastion, or the place where its face and flank meet, and form the angle called the angle of the shoulder. See BASTION. EPAULEMENT, in fortification, a work raised to cover sideways, is either of earth, gabions, or fascines, loaded with earth. The epaulements of the places of arms for the cavalry, at the entrance of the trenches, are generally of fascines mixed with earth. EPAULETTES, in military dress, are a sort of shoulder-knot. They are badges of distinction worn on one or both shoulders, according to the rank of the wearer, and for the same reason they are made either of worsted, or of silver or gold lace. In France, all degrees of rank in the army may be instantly known from the epaulette; but this is not the case here. Lately epaulettes have been introduced into the navy, and in that service the following are the gradations of rank as distinguished by them. Masters and commanders have one epaulette on the left shoulder: post captains under three years, one epaulette on the right shoulder, afterwards two epaulettes: rear admirals have one star on the strap of the epaulette, vice-admirals two stars, and admirals three stars. EPHA, or EPHAH, in Jewish antiquity, a measure for things dry, containing 1.0961 of a bushel. See MEASURE. EPHEDRA, in botany, a genus of the Dioecia Monodelphia class and order. Natural order of Coniferæ. Essential character: : male, calyx of the ament twocleft; corolla none; stamens seven; anthers four inferior, three superior: female, calyx two-parted, five-fold: corol la none; pistils two; seeds covered with a berried calyx. There are two species; viz. E. distachya, great shrubby horse tail, or sea-grape, and E monostachya, small shrubby horse tail. These plants vary extremely. Some in the south of Europe, are only a hand in height, whilst others are three feet: they are found in most of the southern parts of the Russian dominions, from the Volga to the Lena, and southwards to Persia and India. The berries are sweetish, mucose, and leave a little heat in the throat: they are eaten by the Russian peasants, and the wandering hordes of all Great Tartary. EPHEMERA, day-fly, in natural his tory, a genus of insects of the order Neuroptera. Mouth without mandibles; feelers four, very short, filiform; antennæ short, filiform; above the eyes are two or three large stemmata; wings erect, the lower ones much shorter; tail terminating in long bristles or hairs. These short-lived animals, of which there are about twenty species, in two divisions, according as they have two or three hairs in the tail, are found every where about waters in the summer, and in their perfect state seldom live more than a day or two, some of them not an hour, during which time they perform all the functions of life, and answer all the ends of nature. The larva lives under water, and is eagerly sought after by trout and other fish: it is six-footed, active, and furnished with a tail and six lateral fins or gills; the pupa resembles the larva, except in having rudiments of future wings. The larva is altogether aquatic, the complete insect aerial. In the former state it lives two or three years; but as a perfect animal it survives but a very few hours, perishing in the course of the same evening that gives it birth. The most common species in Europe is the E. vulgata, or common May-fly, so plentiful in the early part of summer about the brinks of rivulets and stagnant waters. It is of a greenish colour, with transparent wings elegantly mottled with brown, and is furnished with three very long black bristles. It flutters in the evening about the surface of the water; but during the day is generally seen in a quiescent posture, with the wings closed, and applied to each other in an upright position. EPHEMERIDES, in literary history, an appellation given to those books or journals, which shew the motions and places of the planets for every day in the year. It is from the tables contained in these ephemerides, that eclipses, and all the variety of aspects of the planets, are found. EPHIELIS, in botany, a genus of the Octandria Monogynia class and order. Esential character: calyx five-parted; petals five, with claws; nectary ten scales, two to each petal; capsule oblong, one celled, two-valved, two-seeded. There is but one species; viz. E. guianensis: this is a lofty tree growing in the forests of Guiana, where it flowers in the month of October. EPIBATERIUM, in botany, a genus of the Monoecia Hexandria class and or der. Essential character: calyx double; outer six-leaved, small; inner three-leaved, large; petals six, three outer, between the calycine leaflets; three inner; drupes three, subglobular, mucronate, with three permanent styles; inclosing a kidneyform nut. There is only one species; viz. E. pendulum. EPIC, or heroic poem, a poem expressed in narration, formned upon a story partly real and partly feigned; representing, in a sublime style, some signal and fortunate action, distinguished by a variety of great events, to form the morals, and affect the mind with the love of heroic virtue. EPICHRYSUM, in botany, a genus of the Cryptogamia Fungi class and order. Fungus rounded, concave; seeds globu lar; tailless, attached to a branched thread creeping within. There is but one species; viz. E. argenteum. EPICUREAN philosophy, the doctrine or system of philosophy maintained by Epicurus and his followers. Epicurus, the Athenian, one of the greatest philosophers of his age, was obliged to Democritus for almost his whole system, notwithstanding he piqued himself upon deriving every thing from his own fund. He wrote a great number of books, which are made to amount to above 300. Though none of them are come down to us, no ancient philosopher's system is better known than his, for which we are mostly indebted to the poet Lucretius, Diogenes, Laertius, and Tully. His philosophy consisted of three parts, canonical, physical, and ethereal. The first was about the canons, or rules of judging. The censure which Tully passes upon him, for his despising logic, will hold true only with regard to the logic of the Stoics, which he could not approve of, it being too full of nicety and quirk. Epicurus was not acquainted with the analytical method of division and argumentation, nor was he so curious in modes and formation, as the Stoics. Soundness and simplicity of sense, assisted with some natural reflections, was all his art. His search after truth proceed ed only by the senses, to the evidence of which he gave so great a certainty, that he considered them as an infallible rule of truth, and termed them the first natural light of mankind. In the second part of his philosophy he laid down atoms, space, and gravity, as the first principles of all things. He did not deny the existence of a God, but thought it beneath his majesty to concern himself with human affairs. He held him a blessed immortal being, having no af fairs of his own to take care of, and above meddling with those of others. See ATOMIC PHILOSOPHY. As to his ethics, he made the supreme good of man to consist in pleasure, and, consequently, supreme evil in pain. Nature itself, says he, teaches us this truth, and prompts us from our birth to procure what ever gives us pleasure, and avoid what gives us pain. To this end he proposes a remedy against the sharpness of pain: this was to divert the mind from it, by turning our whole attention upon the pleasures we have formerly enjoyed. He held that the wise man must be happy, as long as he is wise; that pain, not depriv ing him of his wisdom, cannot deprive him of his happiness. EPICYCLE, in the ancient astronomy, a little circle, whose centre is in the cir cumference of a greater circle; or it is a small orb or sphere, which, being fixed in the deferent of a planet, is carried along with it; and yet, by its own peculiar motion, carries the planet fastened to it round its proper centre. It was by means of epicycles, that Ptolemy and his followers solved the various phenomena of the planets, but more especially their stations and retrogradations. The great circle they called the excentric or deferent, and along its circumfer ence the center of the epicycle was conceived to move; carrying with it the planet fixed in its circumference, which in its motion downwards proceeded according to the order of the signs, but in moving upwards contrary to that order. The highest point of a planet's epicycle they called apogee, and the lowest perigee. EPICYCLOID, in geometry, a curve generated by the revolution of the periphery of a circle, A CE (Plate V'Miscel. fig. 4.) along the convex or concave side of the periphery of another circle, D G B. The length of any part of the curve, that any given point in the revolving circle has described, from the time it touched the circle it revolved upon, shall be to double the versed sine of half the arch which all that time touched the circle at rest, as the sum of the diameters of the circles to the semidiameter of the resting circle, if the revolving circle moves upon the convex side of the resting cit. cle; but if upon the concave side, as the difference of the diameters to the semidiameter of the resting circle. In the Philosoph. Transactions, No. 218, we have a general proposition for measuring the areas of all cycloids and epicycloids, viz. The area of any cycloid or epicycloid is to the area of the generating circle, as the sum of double the velocity of the centre and velocity of the circular motion to the velocity of the circular motion: and in the same proportion are the areas of segments of those curves to those of analogous segments of the generating circle. EPIDEMIC. A contagious disease is so termed that attacks many people at the same season, and in the same place; thus, putrid fever, plague, dysentery, &c. are often epidemic. Dr. James Sims observes, in the Memoirs of the Medical Society of London, that there are some grand classes of epidemics which prevail every year, and which are produced by the various changes of the seasons. Thus, spring is accompanied by inflammatory diseases; summer by complaints in the stomach and bowels; autumn by catarrhs; and winter by intermittents. These being obviously produced by the state of weather attendant upon them, other epidemics are supposed analogous to them, and obedient to the same rules, which, on examination, not being the case, all further scrutiny is laid aside, perhaps too hastily. The most natural and healthful seasons in this country are, a moderately frosty winter, showery spring, dry summer, and rainy autumn; and whilst such prevail, the wet part of them is infested by vastly the greatest proportion of complaints, but those not of the most mortal kind. A long succession of wet seasons is accompanied by a prodigious number of diseases; but these being mild and tedious, the number of deaths are not in proportion to the co-existent ailments. On the other hand, a dry season, in the beginning, is attended with extremely few complaints, the body and mind both seeming invigor. ated by it; if, however, this kind of weather last very long, towards the close of it a number of dangerous complaints spring up, which, as they are very short in their duration, the mortality is much greater than one would readily suppose, from the few persons that are ill at any one time and as soon as a wet season succeeds a long dry one, a prodigious sickness and mortality come on universally. So long as this wet weather conVOL. V. tinues, the sickness scarcely abates, but the mortality diminishes rapidly; so that in the last number of rainy years the number of deaths is at the minimum. The change of a long dry season, whether hot or cold, to a rainy one, appears to bring about the temperature of air favourable to the production of great epidemics. Some, however, seem speedily to succeed the predisposing state of the air, others less so; or it may be, that the state of the air favourable to them exists at the very beginning of the change, whilst the state favourable to others progressively succeeds: of this last, however, Dr. Sims is very uncertain. more Two infectious diseases, it appears, are hardly ever prevalent together; there fore, although the same distemperature of air seems favourable to most epidemic disorders, yet some must appear sooner, others later. From observation and books, the Doctor describes the order in which these disorders have a tendency to succeed each other to be, plague, petechial fever, putrid sore throat, with or without scarlatina, dysentery, small-pox, measles, simple scarlatina, hooping-cough, and catarrh: "I do not mean by this,' says he, "that they always succeed each other as above; for often the individual infection is wanting, when another takes its place, until perhaps that infection is imported from a place, which has been so unfortunate as to have a co-incidence of the two causes, without which it appears that no epidemic can take place: that is, a favourable disposition of the air, and that particular infection. Whenever it happens that one infectious disorder takes the place that should have been more properly occupied by another, it becomes much more virulent than it is naturally, whilst the former, if it afterwards succeeds, becomes milder in proportion this, perhaps, is the reason why the same disorders, nay, the same appearance in a disorder, are attended with much more fatality in one year than another." EPIDENDRUM, in botany, a genus of the Gynandria Diandria class and order. Natural order of Orchidez. Essential character: nectary turbinate, oblique, reflex; corolla spreading; spur none, There are 124 species. This numerous genus is obscure in its character, differences, and synonyms: for the flowers in dried specimens can hardly be unfolded; the plants are cultivated in gardens with difficulty; and the species have not been sufficiently described by authors, who F |