Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/704

* ECCENTRIC. 614 ECCLESIASTES. the sun's supposed orbit. The orbit itself was called "the ecicntric.' because its centre did not coincide with that of the earth, which was con- sidered to be the centre of the universe. ECCENTKICITY. A mathematical term used in connection with certain curves. The eccentricity of the hyperbola (q.v.) or of the ellipse (q.v.) is the ratio of the distance be- tween the foci to the major diameter of the curve. The modern use of the term, however, extends to all conies, defining it as the ratio of the focal distance of any point on the curve to the distance from the directrix. Regarding the earth's orbit as an ellipse, its eccentricity is appro.ximately 0.01677. ECCHELLENSIS, or ECHELLENSIS, ek'- kel-len'sis. AiiRAiiA>[ ( ?-lt)ti4). An Arabic scholar. He was bom at Ekchel or Eckel (whence his name), Syria, near the close of the si.vteenth century. He was educated in the ilaronite College in Eome, and became professor of Arabic and Syriac in the College of the Propagandists. In Paris he assisted for a year (lG-IO-41) in the preparation of Le .Jay's Poly- glot Bible. He publisb.ed several Latin transla- tions of Ar.abic works. He died in Rome, 1664. ECCHYMOSIS, ek'ki-mf/sis (Xeo-Lat., from Gk. iK, < k, out 4" X^M^'. cht/mos, juice, from x^'"' cheiii, to pour). . discoloration of the surface, produced by blood efl'used below or in the tex- ture of the skin, as in a black eye or bruise. It is usually attended by swelling to a greater or less extent, and i> the result of injury. ECCLEFECHAN, C.k"lfeK'on. A small vil- lage of Dumfriesshire. Scotland, 20 miles north of Carlisle (Map: Scotland. E 4). Thomas Car- lyle was bom and buried there, and the village is believed to be the 'Entepfuhl' of his Sartor Resartus. ECCLES. ek'k'lz (from Lat. ecclesia, from Gk. iKKri<Tia, ekkUsia, church). A municipal bor- ough of Lancashire, England, picturesquely situ- ated on the Irwell and the Manchester Ship Canal, about four miles west of Jlanchester, of which it is practically a suburb (Map: England. D .3). It was incorporated in 1892. Its water-supply is derived from Manchester, and its gas from Sal- ford. The town owns its electric plant and street- railway lines, the latter being operated bj- a pri- vate company; it maintains public baths, a mar- ket, cemetery, and recreation grounds. The chief industry' is the manufacture of cotton goods. Population, in ISni, 29,700: in 1901, 34,400. ECCLESFIELD, ek'k'ls-feld. A town in the V<) Hiding of Yorkshire. England, five miles north of Shcmeld (Map: England, E 3). The chief nianufactiire is cutlery, but linen and nails are also produced. There are coal and iron uuncs in the vicinity. Population, in 1S91. 26,- 000; in 1901, 24.100'. The town derives its name from a very ancient church founded here prob- ably as early as the Conquest. ECCLESIA. .-•k-kl.-'zl : (Lat.. from Gk. iKK-j,. aia. rl.ljrsia, assembl}", from iK. ek, out + KoKeTf, Icaleii), to call). (1) A term commonly used to denote the popular assembly of the Athe- nians, in which all free citizens might vote. Its authority was supreme, though ordinarily only those citizens cmild be present wlio lived in the immediate vicinity of .thcns. and 6000 was regarded as a large attendance. A popular assembly is part of the Greek State in the I Homeric poems, but with the growth of the " power of the nobles, such a body, if it existed at Athens, was seldom convoked and of no practical authority. Solon (B.C. 594) first made it a power by admitting to it all citizens, and giving it some power in the election of otUcials. With the establishment of the Clisthcnian democracy, the supremacy of the ecclesia was firmly estab- lished. At first it seems to have met only once in each pryianij, i.e. the period of 35 or 36 days, into 10 of which the Athenian year was divided, but later it met regularly four times in a pry- tany, while extra meetings could be called by the prytanes. The prytanes were the 50 senators of that one of the 10 tribes which at that time was acting as standing committee of the Senate. In the fifth century u.c, the ipixtalCs or chair- man of the prytanes presided, but later a com- mittee of nine, one from each of the other nine tribes, was chosen as proetlroi, and presided over the meetings. Those who attended the ecclesia received pay probably after B.C. 400, at first one obol, later three oboli, and at last even six or nine. The ecclesia was opened with sacrifice and prayer, and then the business was laid before the assembly in the form of resolutions already adopted by the Senate. These were open to alteration to any extent, but no business might be presented to the assembly before passing the Senate. Any .Vtbenian citizen might speak. The vote was regularly taken by sliow of hands ; only when the decree affected a single individual were ballots used. When the business had been fin- ished the prytanes dismissed the ecclesia. In Sparta, also, tlicre was a popular assembly, called Apella ('AjrAXa), which met once a month, to vote on the proposals of the Council of Ephors. There was no free debate, and as a rule only the officials seem to have spoken. It is not known what was the nature of the little ecclesia at Sparta mentioned once by Xenophon. The voting at Sparta was by acclamation, and not I)}- ballot. The majority was determined by the comparative volume of sound, or, if that was doubted, by a division and counting of the two parties. (2) In the Greek of the Xew Testa- ment, ecclesia is the name for the company of Christ's disciples professing to trust Ilim as their Saviour and to obey Him as their Lord. It is applied to a small assembly of them, such as were members of one family, or could meet in a dwelling-house of ordinary size: to the whole numlier in one city or neighborhood: to the whole number on earth ; to all that are in heaven : and to the innumerable company on earth and in heaven. It has other meanings, but is usually rendered Church. ECCLESIASTES, (''k-kle'zl-as'tez (Lat.. from Gk. ^K)tjo-ia<r7i)5, ekklcsiastcs, one concerned with an assembly, from 4KKi<ria. ckklesia. assembly). A philosophical book belonging to the third divi- sion of the Old Testament collection known as Hagiographa. The Hebrew name is Koheleth, which is transl.ated into Greek as Ecclcxiantes, on the supposition that the Hebrew stem under- lying Koheleth is to he taken in the sense of as- scnilily. so that Koheleth is one who addresses or convenes an assembly, i.e. a preacher. This ex- planation of the name, Jiowevcr. is doubtful, a strong olijcction tn it being that it docs not ac- count for the feminine ending which the Hebrew