Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/603

 ENDYMION same density. Let a solution of sugar in a tube closed below with a slip of bladder tied across the end, and open above, be suspended in a vessel of water. The quantity of liquid in the tube is soon seen to increase by the passing through of the thinner fluid. It may even flow over and run down into the outer vessel, and so the action will go on until the membrane becomes partially decomposed, or until the two mixtures become uniform. Dutrochet, who first observed this phenomenon, found that the height to which the fluid would rise increased with the density of the thicker fluid. With a membrane 1 in. in diameter and sirup of the density 1'083, the liquid rose, in a tube -fa of an inch in diameter, more than 1 in. in 1|- hours ; with sirup of a density of 1'45 the fluid rose nearly 3 in. ; and when the density was 1/228 the rise was 4 in. A considerable force is exerted in this movement ; in sirup of den- sity 1-3 Dutrochet estimated it to be equal to the pressure of 4 atmospheres. If the flow is drawn inward, the action is called endosmose ; if outward, exosmose. It is supposed to be on this principle that the sap ascends in trees and fluids are diffused through animal bodies. Lie- big, after describing some experiments, in which fluids were made to pass through nine membranes, to fill the vacant space left by evaporation of another fluid in a glass tube, remarks with reference to the application of the results to the processes taking place in the animal body as follows : "The surface of the body is the membrane from which evaporation goes constantly forward. In consequence of this evaporation, all the fluids of the body, in obedience to atmospheric pressure, experience motion in the direction toward the evaporating surface. This is obviously the chief cause of the passage of the nutritious fluids through the walls of the blood vessels, and the cause of their distribution through the body. "We know now what important functions the skin (and lungs) fulfil through evaporation. It is a con- dition of nutrition, and the influence of a moist or dry air upon the health of the body, or of mechanical agitation by walking or running, which increases the perspiration, suggests itself." Interesting examples of this phenome- non are seen in the passage of the gases through membranes. If a tumbler, filled with air and covered at top with a thin sheet of India rub- ber, be placed under a bell glass filled with hy- drogen, the gas will soon penetrate the cover and mix with the air ; and this action will go on till the India rubber bursts open from the increased bulk of the contents of the tumbler. If the tumbler contained hydrogen and the bell glass air, the India rubber would be pressed in by the escape of the gas, leaving the portion re- maining of greatly reduced density. ENDYMION, in Greek legend, a shepherd of remarkable beauty, who retired every night to a grotto of Mount Latmus in Caria. As he slept the goddess Selene (the moon) became enamored of him, and leaving her chariot came ENFANTIN 595 down to him. The eclipses of the moon were attributed to these visits. By Selene he had 50 daughters. Jupiter condemned him to per- petual sleep, or, according to other accounts, to 50 years of sleep. ENFANTOT, Barthelemy Prosper, generally known under the name of Pere Enfantin, one of the founders of St. Simonism, born in Paris, Feb. 8, 1796, died there, Sept. 1, 1864. He was the son of a banker, and with his fellow pupils was dismissed from the polytechnic school after March 30, 1814, for having on that day fired on the allied troops. He then be- came a commercial traveller, and in 1821 en- tered a banking house in St. Petersburg. He returned to France in 1823, and became cash- ier of a mercantile firm, at the same time join- ing the carbonari. In 1825 he made the ac- quaintance of Olinde Eodrigues, a follower of Saint-Simon, who introduced Enfantin to his teacher. After the death of Saint-Simon, May 19, 1825, Enfantin and Rodrigues began the publication of a journal, Le producteur, in which Enfantin broached new social and reli- gious doctrines, which displeased many who at first supported it, and it was discontinued to- ward the end of 1826. Enfantin, however, con- tinued to advocate his views by lectures and public meetings. The revolution of 1830 fa- vored the movement, which was soon formally organized with Enfantin and Bazard as the chief leaders (peres mpremes), and with the Globe newspaper, of which Michel Chevalier was editor, as its organ. A schism soon broke out between the leaders. Enfantin proposed the overthrow of all legislative and social re- straint in the sphere of love and affection, except that of the "priest" or "confessor," who should have full command over the body and soul of his disciples for the control of their passions. Bazard declared this an attempt to convert Saint-Simon's economical doctrines into a religious creed, and a social order found - ed upon licentiousness, and withdrew in 1831. His secession was followed by that of the economical and political section of the school. But Enfantin persisted in his endeavors to establish a new religion. He addressed his followers (whom he estimated at 40,000 in France alone) with the authority of a superior being set apart by Providence for the purpose of inaugurating a new era for humanity through the emancipation and the agency of woman. He endeavored to find the female Messiah (femme Messie) who in his opinion was pre- destined to bear to him a new saviour of man- kind, and in this search is said to have spent more than 250,000 francs in splendid entertain- ments. He still gained adherents and procured a loan of 80,000 francs for the establishment of industrial workshops. His meetings were closed by the authorities in May, 1832 ; but he now withdrew with 40 of his followers, among whom were Michel Chevalier and other emi- nent men, to some land which belonged to him in the vicinity of Paris, near M6nilmontant,