Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/844

* ELASTIN. 732 ELATH. boilings with water, next heating with weak caustic potash solution, and further will dilute acetic acid; the substance thus obtained is treated with cold dilute hydrochloric acid, then boiled with strong alcohol, and finally subjected to prolonged and careful trcaliiicnt willi ctlicr. In this manner gelatin, mucin, fats, etc., are re- moved from the tissue, the elastiu remaining behind in the form of a yellowish powder which is clastic when moist, but becomes brittle on drying. By the action of strong hydrochloric acid and chloride of zinc, elastin is converted into several substances, including a small quan- tity of tyrosin and glycocoll: gelatin, if sub- jected to similar treatment, yields no tyrosin, while the true protcids yield no glycocoll and do yield glutamic and aspartic acids, which are not proihucd in the treatment of elastin. By means of the reaction just mentioned, elastin can, therefore, lie readily distinguished from gelatin and the protcids. On the other hand, elastin may be distinguished from keratin by the action of pepsin or trypsin, which readily dissolve elastin, while they have no effect on keratin. ELATE'A. See Citii.erox. EL'ATER (Xeo-Lat.. from Gk. iXar-^p. ehiter, driver, from eXavvtiv, rhniiiciii. to drive). In jilants. a ]icculiarly modified cell developed in great numljcrs in the spore-cases of certain liver- worts, as Marchantia. The cells occur among the spores, and have the form of elongated fil)res, with spiral thickened bands. When the spore- ELATEHS : 1, of a liverwort : 2, of Eqiiisetum. case bursts, the elaters ('jumpers') bend arid straighten Viy jerking motions and help to scat- ter the light spores. The name elater is also a])plied to the hygroscopic sjiiral bands on the sjjores of Equisetum. See IIepatic.e; Equise- TVM. EL'ATER'ID.a; (Xco-I.at. nom. jil.. from Gk. Aor^p. eintvr, driver). A large family of beetles, commonly known, as elaters or click-beetles. About 7000 species are described, of which over 500 occur in the United States. The mo.st conspicu- ous North Ameri- can one is the eyed elater (Alaiis acii- latus), which h.is two large velvety spots on the prothorax. VlREWORSI. g AN ELATER. Adult beetlt* ami larva — a wire- worm (ir). See Click-Beetle and ELAT'ERIN (from cUilerium), C^HsOj. A neutral jirinciple contained in claterium (q.v.), from which it may be prepared by exhausting with chloroform, precipitating the resulting so- lution with ether, and purifying the precipitate by re-crystallization from chloroform. Klaterin is a i>ernianent white substance crystallizing in the form of small hexagonal scales, or in the form of prisms. It has no odor, but a bitter, slightly acrid taste. It is but very sparingly soluble in alcohol and iu ether, arid is practically insoluble in water. The triturate of elaterin is an otficial preparation, and is the most powerful hydra- gogue purgative known. It may be used, with great caution, in Bright's disease and in ascites. See Elaterum. ELATTERITE. A soft, elastic variety of as- phalt, resembling india-rubber. It is subtrans- lucent. has a brownish color and a specific grav- ity, varying from 0.9 to 1.0. It is found in Ucrbysliirc and elsewhere in England. EL'ATE'RITIM (Neo-T.at.. from Gk. ^Xar^pioi, clatCrios. chiving, from iXarrip. ilatfr, driver, from AoiVcif, i^ikhiih. to drive). A substance obtained from the fruit of the squirting cucum- ber (Echalliiiin cloteriiDii). also called the wild cucumber. The plant is an annual of the order Cucurbitacete, a native of the south of Europe, common on rul>bish in the vilhiges of Greece and the Arcliipelago. The whole plant is rough, with stitV hairs: it has a trailing branching stem, without tendrils: the leaves are heart-shaped, somewhat lobcd and toothed, on long stalks; the flowers axillary, yellow, the male (lowers in small racemes: the fruit oblong, about an inch and a half long, grayish green, covered with soft prickles, and finally parting from its stalk, and expelling its seeds along with a thin mucus through the aperture where the .stalk was in- serted. It is this mucus surrounding the seeds — a thick green mucus of a very peculiar character — which contains the claterium. To obtain the latter, the juice of the nearly ripened fruit is allowed to stand for a sb.ort time, when it l)e- comes turbid and deposits a sediment. The sediment, carefully collected and dried, is elaterium. It is of a pale grayi.sh-green color, light and friable, with an acrid taste, and a peculiar not unpleasant odor. Us powerful pur- gative action seems to depend chieily on a prin- cijile called elaterin (q.v.). E'LATH. The modern-Akabah. a seaport situ- ated in tlu' extreme south of Idunupa, at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. According to Dent. ii. 8, it was one of the stations of the Israelites on the route from E^^pt. It is probably a later desip- natitm of El-Paran (Gen. xiv. (i) and the same as Elah (f5en. xxxvi. 41). Otlicr variant forms are Eloth and Elim. David captured it from the Edomites (II. Sam. viii. 14). and under Solomon it liecame an important naval station (T. Kings i.x. 26). Edom recovered its inilependence in the days of .lehoram, but subsequently Elath passed once more into the possession of Judah (II. Kings xiv. 22) : again in n.c. 734. in the days of .Ahaz. it passed out of the hands of .Tvidah, and this tinu- permanently (II. Kings xvi. C). In the days of Eusclniis Elath was a town of com- mercial importance and carried on trade with such remote regions as India. At present noth- ing renin ins of the ancient place but portions of the castle and heaps of ruins.