Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/661

EADMER OF CANTERBURY.  of lay investiture of ecclesiastical benefices was then a burning one, and there were controversies as to jurisdiction between Saint Andrews, Canterbury, and York. The outcome was that Eadmer returned to England unconsecrated. He became precentor of Canterbury, and died, it is supposed, in January, 1124. His most valuable works are the Historia Novorum, or history of his own times, and his life of Anselm. They are both in the same volume of the Rolls Series (London, 1884), edited by Martin Rule. Consult Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1861).  EADMUND,. See.  EADS,, (1820-87). An eminent American engineer and inventor. He was born in Lawrenceburgh, Ind., but removed to Saint Louis in 1833; became a clerk on a Mississippi steamboat in 1839; and, having studied engineering by himself, set out to solve some of the problems of navigation on that river. By the outbreak of the Civil War he had achieved fame and a fortune, and was accounted such an authority on everything pertaining to the Mississippi and its navigation that, soon after the fall of Fort Sumter, he was called to Washington to consult with President Lincoln and his Cabinet as to the practicability of maintaining a fleet of light ironclads on the Western rivers. Later in the year 1861 he obtained the Government contract for the construction of such a fleet, and achieved the remarkable feat of placing in the water, fully equipped, seven ironclad river gunboats, largely of his own designing, in the short space of one hundred days. It was with these gunboats, a month before the struggle between the Merrimac and the Monitor, that the capture of Fort Henry was effected. From 1867 until 1874 Eads was engaged in the construction of the steel arch bridge across the Mississippi at Saint Louis, which ranks as one of the finest bridges in the world. After the completion of this work he began studying the problem of deepening the channel at the mouth of the Mississippi, and finally persuaded the Government to allow him to undertake the enterprise at his own risk. His plan, which provided for the construction of jetties, was carried out successfully, and was the crowning achievement of his career. The latter years of his life were spent in extensive engineering operations both in America and Europe, and the planning of a ship-railway across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In 1884 he received the award of the Albert medal conferred by the British Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, he being the first American to receive the award. Consult How, James B. Eads (Boston, 1900), one of the “Riverside Biographies.”  EAGAN,, (1841 — ). An American soldier, born in Ireland. He entered the Federal Army from civil life in 1862, with rank of first lieutenant, and upon the close of the Civil War was mustered out (1865). In 1866 he was appointed to the United States Army, with rank of second lieutenant, and by 1898 had risen to the grade of brigadier-general and commissary-general. As such he served during the Spanish-American War, at which time he was found to have issued among the rations designed for the United States forces in Cuba canned meats said to be in a condition so unwholesome as to render them unfit for food. In 1899 he was tried by court-martial for using violent and abusive language before the War Investigation Committee regarding General Miles, commander-in-chief of the army. He was sentenced to a suspension of six years from duty and military honors, and later was retired at his own request.  EAGLE (OF. egle, aigle, Fr. aigle, It. aquila, from Lat. aquila, eagle, from aquilus, dark-brown; connected with Gk., achlys, mist, darkness, Lith. aklas, blind). Any member of a group of birds of prey, variously defined, but typified by the genus Aquila, which contains the largest and most powerful of the Falconidæ. From the most ancient times the eagle has been universally regarded as the emblem of might and courage; and, like the lion, it has been fancifully invested with other attributes of greatness such as men thought to harmonize with these. Its extraordinary powers of vision, the vast height to which it soars in the sky, the wild grandeur of the scenery amid which it loves to make its abode, and perhaps also its longevity, have concurred to recommend it to poetic regard. It was associated with Jupiter in the Roman mythology, and its figure on the standards of certain Roman legions has descended to the national ensigns of the United States, Germany, Russia, etc.

True eagles have the beak not curved from the very base, like the true falcons, nor notched on the edge; neither are their wings so long in proportion to their size; their legs are very robust, their claws curved, sharp, and strong. In the most restricted use of the generic term Aquila, the true eagles (of which the golden eagle may be taken as a type) have a rather short bill, curved from the cere, with the edge of the upper mandible slightly sinuate, the tarsi short and feathered down to the toes. This last character distinguishes them at once from their nearest allies—the sea-eagles of the genus Haliaëtus. Nine species of true eagles are well distinguished, although in this, as in allied genera, much confusion has arisen from the diversity of plumage at different ages. Only one of them occurs in North America. This is the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaëtus), of which the ‘ring-tailed’ eagle is the young. It is 30 to 35 inches in length, and 6½ to 7 feet in spread of wing; the female is rather larger than the male. The color is dark brown, in some parts almost black; the head and back of the neck in mature birds covered with pointed feathers of a golden-red color; young birds have a considerable part of the tail white; the bright-yellow cere and feet give it its name. The golden eagle is the largest of the European eagles, and is found throughout Europe, Asia (north of the Himalaya), and most of North America. It prefers mountainous districts, and usually only one pair exists within a relatively extensive area. These eagles are rare east of the Mississippi, but are occasionally seen, especially in winter. They build a coarse nest of large sticks on cliffs or rocky ledges in the mountains, and lay two or three eggs, dull white, blotched and speckled with brown. A great quantity of food is required to support a pair of these birds and their two or three young ones; and not only hares, game of every kind, and lambs are carried to the eyrie, but larger animals are sometimes attacked.

The imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca) is usually regarded as that from which the Greeks and