Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/362

 354 EARL MARSHAL EARTH in Leicester, Mass., April 21, 1791, died in Philadelphia, July 14, 1849. In 1817 he re- moved to Philadelphia, and engaged in mer- cantile pursuits for a few years, and afterward became distinguished as a lawyer and journal- ist. He edited in succession the "Columbian Observer," " Standard," "Pennsylvanian," and "Mechanics' Free Press and Reform Advo- cate." In 1837 he took an active part in call- ing a convention to revise the constitution of Pennsylvania, was a prominent member of it, and is believed to have made the original draft of the new constitution. At this time he lost the support of the democratic party by advo- cating the extension of the right of suffrage to negroes. In 1840 he was the candidate of the liberty party for vice president. After that period he mingled little in political affairs, and devoted himself almost entirely to literary pur- suits. His first published work was an "Es- say on Penal Law," which was followed by an "Essay on the Rights of States to alter and annul their Charters," a work which elicited the approbation of Thomas Jefferson ; a " Trea- tise on Railroads and Internal Communica- tions" (1830); a spelling book for schools; and a "Life of Benjamin Lundy." At the time of his death he had nearly completed a history of the French revolution. EARL MARSHAL. See EAEL. EARLY, a S. W. county of Georgia, bordering on Alabama, bounded "W. by the Chattahoo- chee river ; area, 500 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 6,998, of whom 4,172 were colored. The sur- face is a fertile plain, watered by Spring creek and several of its branches, and occupied by corn and cotton plantations, interspersed with forests of oak and yellow pine. The Chatta- hoochee is navigable along the border of the county by steamboats, and the smaller streams furnish good water power. On the bank of Colarnoka creek is a remarkable ancient mound, 75 ft. high, with a level surface on the top 240 by 90 ft. in extent. The chief productions in 1870 were 129,092 bushels of Indian corn, 11,- 201 of oats, 22,614 of sweet potatoes, and 3,461 bales of cotton. The value of live stock was $193,961. Capital, Blakely. EARLY, Jnbal A., a general of the Confederate States, born in Virginia about 1815. He grad- uated^at "West Point in 1837, and was appoint- ed a lieutenant of artillery, but soon resigned, studied and practised law, and was elected to the legislature of Virginia. During the Mexi- can war he was major of a regiment of Vir- ginia volunteers. Upon the breaking out of the civil war he entered the confederate army, and commanded a brigade at Bull Run, Cedar Mountain, and Fredericksburg. In May, 1863, he commanded the division which held the lines at Fredericksburg, while Lee was fighting the battle of Chancellorsville. He also commanded a division at Gettysburg. In 1864 he was sent to the valley of the Shenandoah, where his op- erations were at first very successful. In July he crossed the Potomac, gained several actions, and even threatened Washington, but was obliged to retreat. Toward the end of the month a portion of his cavalry advanced into Pennsylvania as far as Chambersburg, which they burned. He was defeated by Sheridan on the Opequan (Sept. 19), at Fisher's Hill (Sept. 22), and at Cedar creek (Oct. 19) ; and in March, 1865, he was totally routed by Cus- ter at Waynesborough. On March 30 he was dismissed by Lee from the command in the val- ley. After the close of the war he spent some time in Europe, and returning resumed the practice of law at Richmond. In 1867 he published " Memoirs of the Last Year of the War." EAR SHELL (haliotis), a marine gasteropod mollusk, so called from its resemblance in shape to an ear. The spire is small and flat, the aper- ture large and without operculum, and the in- terior pearly and iridescent; the exterior is dull, of a brownish or mottled color. The outer angle is perforated by a series of holes, growing smaller toward the spire, where they are closed, forming tubercles ; these are the openings for the respiratory currents, and also for the passage of tentacles. The genus in- cludes about 75 living species, and a few have been found fossil in the middle tertiary epoch ; they are met with in the temperate and tropi- cal seas the world over, and are used in Japan and in the Channel islands for food, being made tender by beating. The common species (H. tuberculata) is often called the ormer. Some of the species are 6 to 8 in. long and 5 or 6 wide. They are used for inlaying and other ornamental purposes, and also for decorating houses, fixed in the plastered wall. They are usually found in deep water, and are obtained at low tide, adhering very firmly to rocks by means of the large foot, like the limpet. EARTH, the globe on which we live, and the third planet in order of distance from the sun. The earth is a rotating globe, somewhat com- pressed or flattened at the poles. Its mean diameter is 7,912 m., its polar diameter 7,898 m., and its equatorial diameter 7,926 m. It travels in a nearly circular orbit around the sun, at a mean distance of about 91,500,000 m. When nearest to the sun the earth is about 90,000,000 m. from him, and when at her greatest distance about 93,000,000 m. She completes her circuit around him in 365-2564 days, rotating on her axis in 23h. 56m. 4s. of mean solar time. It was supposed by the first astronomers and geographers that the earth was a vast fixed plane, probably circular, and that the heavenly bodies were carried around this fixed earth, passing alter- nately above and below its level. The discov- ery that the earth is not a plane has been ascribed to Thales of Miletus (born about 640 B. C.), and it is said that he ascribed to it a spherical figure, but Anaximander judged it to be cylindrical. Gradually, as more and more of the earth became known through travels and explorations, its real figure and dimensions be'