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 524 ELEUTHERIA ELGIN suggests, the remains of a worship which pre- ceded the rise of the Hellenic mythology. In 1858 a Greek schoolmaster named Vlastos dis- covered at the village of Hagi-Constantios an inscription upon an old marble slab, contain- ing rules and regulations for the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries, but nothing was learned from them about their allegorical mean- ing. See Uvaroff, Essai sur les mysteres cTfileusi* (3d ed., Paris, 1816), and Preller, Demeter und Persephone (Hamburg, 1837). ELEUTHERIA (Gr. etotitpta, freedom), among the ancient Greeks, a festival commemorative of deliverance from the armies of Xerxes. It was instituted after the battle of Platoea (479 B. C.), and celebrated annually at that place in the month Maimacterion, nearly corresponding to our September. At the dawn of day a pro- cession marched through the town, at the head of which trumpeters blew the signal for battle. At midday a chariot was driven toward the altar crowned with myrtle and various gar- lands, and leading behind it a black bull. In front of the altar the archon of Plataea immo- lated the bull to Jupiter and Mercury, eulo- gized the heroes who had fallen at Plataea, and sprinkled the ground with wine. Every fifth year these solemnities were attended by con- tests, chaplets being the reward of the victors. ELGIN, a S. W. county of Ontario, Canada, on the N; shore of Lake Erie, traversed by Otter creek, and bordered by the Thames river; area, about 730 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 33,666. Capital, St. Thomas. ELGIN, a city of Kane co., Illinois, on both banks of Fox river, which is spanned by an iron bridge, and on the Chicago and North- western railroad, 35 m. W. N. W. of Chicago ; pop. in 1870, 5,441. It is laid out with broad streets, contains many brick blocks, and is well provided with shade trees. There is good water power and an active trade with the sur- rounding country. It is chiefly noted as the seat of the national watch factory, established in 1866, which has a capital of $1,500,000, employs 550 hands, half of them females, and manufactures 50,000 watches a year, valued at $850,000. There are also a woollen mill, a flouring mill, a butt and screw factory, a milk- condensing establishment, and two national banks. The city contains 16 public schools, including a high and two grammar schools, with an average attendance of 928 in 1872 ; two newspapers, a monthly periodical, and several churches. ELGIN, a royal, parliamentary, and munici- pal burgh and market town, capital of Elgin- shire, Scotland, on the S. bank of the Lossie, 115 m. N. of Edinburgh; pop. of parliamentary burgh in 1871, 7,339. It is surpassed by few cities of Scotland in the number and interest of its ancient monuments. In former times it was a bishop's see ; its cathedral was founded in 1224, and was burned in June, 1390, by Alex- ander Stuart, commonly called the wolf of Badenoch. Bishop Barr soon after erected in its stead a cruciform church with three towers. About 1568 the privy council ordered the lead to be stripped from the roof and sold to main- tain the soldiers of the regent Murray. The noble structure has ever since been falling piecemeal to destruction. The great central Elgin Cathedral. tower and spire, 198 ft. high, fell in 1711. The chapter house, a beautiful octagon building, with a groined roof, supported by a handsome column in the centre, and elaborately orna- mented, is still entire. As late as the begin- ning of this century Elgin bore an antiquated look, but new houses and streets have taken the place of the old ; assembly rooms have been fitted up ; a neat modern church has been built; and the streets are well swept, drained, and lighted with gas. Gray's hospital or in- firmary, an institution endowed with 26,000, occupies an elevated site in the western part of the city. An orphan asylum here was en- dowed with 70,000. Elgin has a consider- able trade in corn and wool, and markets are held on each Tuesday and Friday. It has also a woollen manufactory, tannery, millstone quar- ry, and lime works. Three weekly newspapers are published. ELGIN. I. Thomas Bruw, 7th earl of Elgin and llth of Kincardine, a British diplomatist, born July 20, 1766, died in Paris, Nov. 14, 1841. He passed some time at Harrow and at the university of St. Andrews, studied law in Paris, and having pursued military studies in Germany, entered the army and rose to the rank of general. His time, however, was mostly