Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/682

* EARTHWORM. 594 EASEMENT. of the external features of an earthworm, but it is not always evident. The eggs of earthworms contain considerable yolk, and the young worms develop without any metamorphosis. Consult Beddurd. "Earthworms and Leeches,"' in vol. ii., Cambridge atural Uistory (New York, lS9(i). EAR-TRUMPET. A contrivance for improv- ing the hearing of the partially deaf, and, as its name implies, a trumpet-shaped tube, whose action depends on the i)rinciples of reflection. The waves of sound strike the bell of the trum- pet and are reflected into the narrower portion of the tube. As the waves proceed, the wave- front narrows in breadth, but increases in in- tensity and the sound reaches the inner ear mag- nified. In a great number of cases of impaired hearing, there can be no doubt that much assist- ance is obtained from the use of the ear-trumpet; still it must not be used indiscriminately, for in unsuitable cases it may do much mischief, both in increasing the deafness and aggravating the noises in the head from which deaf persons often suffer so much. It also possesses the great dis- advantage of magnifying certain sounds at the expense of others. The ear-trumpet, on account of its shape, acts as a resonator, and will strengthen and increase the vibrations of cer- tain frequencies, while others will be almost de- stroyed. Ear-trumpets are of most >iso. per- haps, in advanced cases of nervous deafness, though injurious in the early stages of this com- plaint: they are hurtful also in all acute dis- eases of the ear, and of little or no use in those cases of great thickening of the contents of the middle ear, where the adapting p.)er of the orgiin has been lost. Most of the small and so-called invisible ear-trumpets are considered practically useless. All of the useful instru- ments have good-sized bowls, which in some cases rest against the temple when inserted in the ear, thus aiding the hearing by bone conduc- tion. Another variety, applicable to the more severe eases of deafness, consists of an elastic tube, one end of which is tipped with ivory and is placed in the ear of the patient; the other is held in the hand of the speaker, who applies his mouth to the o|)eii extremity, Ear-trtunpets are generally made of some thin metallic sub- stance, such as tin. Gutta-percha and other sub- stances are also frequently used. See Al'uiPlloN'E. EAR-WAX. .See Cerimen. EARWIG (AS. raniirf/a, from tare. Eng. ear + wirqn. insect; connected with AS. tcicg, horse, wiht, wight, from wegan, Icel. rega. Ootli. gnwi- gan, OHG., Ger, tregan. to carry, move; connect- ed with T.at. vehere, OChnrch Slav, reiti. Skt. rah. to carry, Gk. ^x""! erhein, to hold). . pop- ular name for orthopter- ous insects of the family Forficulidte, resembling AN EAHWici. rove-beetles, but easily »hT.T„*'i"^ ".'l*""- ."^^T' distinguished from thei^ abovp Htiow iiie exteiiHive, ,, - . variability of the' tail-for- oy the presence of pmcer- ceps' of the male of a Hin- like processes at the pos- uten^'***^'"""""'"™" ♦•'■■'"•■ •'"•'' "f t'^'" "'"'"■ men. They probably owe the^r name to the foolish belief that they creep into the ears of sleeper*. Earwigs are common in the United States only in the Southern States and on the Pacific Coast. They are fond of moist situations, such as under the decayed bark of trees, under stones, among old straw, etc. They are noc- turnal in habit, and while their food is chiefly vegetable, such as flowers and ripe fruit, they probably do nuich good by destroying numbers of thrips, aphids, etc. The name is also applied in the L'nited States to several small centipedes which frequent houses. Fossil Earwios. The earliest known ancestor of the earwigs, a fossil genus (Baseopsis) from the Liassic rocks of Schambelen. Switzerland, is considered an interesting link connecting the Urthoptera and Coleoptera. . othcr ilesozoic genus is known in the Solenhofen limestones of Havaria. Tertiary earwigs have been found in the amber of northeastern Prussia, in the beds of Ai., France, and Oeningen, Germany, and eleven species are known in the Gligocene shales of Florissant. Col. These latter include some ery large species with uiuisually large eyes. Sec Okthoptera. Sec bibliography under Orthopteka ; also de Bormans and Krauss, ■"Forliculidic and llemi- ineri(l;F,"' in Das Tivrreicli, ii. l.ieferung (Berlin, 1 lino ) . EAR- WORM. The bollworm (([.v.). Also the cotton-worm. See Cotton-Insects. EASEL (Dutch esel, OHG. fsi7, Ger. EseJ, Goth, asilus, AS. esol. eosol, from Lat, asinus, ass). A wooden structure, usually of tripedal form, upon which an artist places his canvas or panels when painting. The canvas is placed at a convenient height by nu>ans of pegs upon which is set a tray or supporting board, holes being bored in the two forward legs of the structure at regular intervals for receiving these pegs. This is the easel still in connnon use. though perhaps of earliest invention. Other forms of the easel, more mechanical in contrivance, are employed for large canvases, EASEMENT, An acquired right of use or enjoyment in the lands of another, which one may have by virtue of his ownership or posses- sion of other land. Though limited in number, easements are of very frequent occurrence, and comprehend such well-known rights as rights of way, of light, of drainage, and the like. They belong to that large class of rights, falling short of ownership, in the lands of others ( itirn in re alieiia). which, from the point of view of the land subjected to the use. are sometimes called servitudes. The Koman law distinguished two classes of servitudes, urban and rural, and de- veloped a refined and highly elaborated body of rules to determine the conflicting rights of the owner of the burdened land and of the person entitled to the u<e thereof. ( See SERViTfDE. ) In the common-law classification of |)roperty rights, easements belong to the class of incorporeal hercdifaments. so called because of the impal- pable character of the rights referred to, as distinguished from the direct ownership of the land itself, and because, like other real property rights, they are inheritable with the lands to which they are appurtenant. They are limited in our system to real property, though the Roman law recognized servitudes in chattels, or movables, as well as inunovables. Though sometimes improperly used so as to include several varieties of rights in alieno solo.