Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/211

* ERFURT. 181 ERGOT. the fourteenth century Church of Saint Scverus, with three pointed towers, altar reliefs, and statues. Of t lie numerous monasteries of Erfurt only two have survived, of which that of S;iiut Augustine, famous as the residence of Luther, now serves as an asylum, while the other is used as a school for girls. Among the secular buildings the most prominent are the Rathaus, circled in 1869-75 and adorned with frescoes; the court house, the central railway station, and the Government buildings occupied in lSlis by Napoleon during his famous sojourn here. The city is administered by a chief burgo- master, a burgomaster, a board of magistrates of 15 members, and a municipal council of 48 members. It owns its water-works, a pawnshop, and an abattoir. The street, railways are run by electricity. The most prominent educational in- stitutions are the gymnasium originally founded in 1561, the teachers' seminary, a number of art, schools, the royal library with 65,000 volumes and valuable manuscripts, the municipal theatre, and the museum of Thuringian antiquities and costumes. The chief industries of Erfurt are the manufacturing of ladies' cloaks, shoes, iron products, woolen, cotton, and linen goods, ma- chines, arms, cigars. Another important indus- try is the raising of vegetables, of which Erfurt exports large quantities. The commerce is of some magnitude, and a number of important financial institutions are found at Erfurt. Popu- lation, in 1890, 72,360; in 1900, 85,190. Erfurt traces its origin to a mythical founder, Erpes, who lived some time in the sixth century. Saint Boniface established a bishopric at Erfurt in 741, and Charlemagne made it a staple town in 805. Though ruled by governors appointed by the Archbishop of Mainz, Erfurt possessed ex- tensive municipal rights till 1664, and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when it be- longed to the Hanseatic League, was exceedingly prosperous, enjoying freedom of trade through- out the empire and ruling over a considerable dis- trict. In 1803 it came to Prussia, and in 1806 passed to France. At Erfurt, in 1808, Napoleon played the conqueror for several months, there being present Alexander of Russia and a host of German princes. In 1814 the town was recovered by Prussia. In 1850 Erfurt was the seat of the Union Parliament. (See Germany. ) Consult: Tettau. Erfurt in seiner Yergangenheit und Gegen- wart (Erfurt. 1880); Roll, "Erfurt," in Euro- paische Wanderbilder (Zurich, 1888). ERG, erg (abbreviated from the Gk.fpyov, er- gon, work ; connected with Av. varaz, to do, Goth. waurkjan, AS. wyrcean, OHG. wirkan, Ger. voir- ken, Eng. work). The unit of work or energy on the C. G. S. system (q.v.). It is the work done when a force of one dyne acts through, or is overcome through, a distauce of one centimeter. Tt is also the energy of two grams moving with a unit speed. ( See Energetics.) Since it is so small a unit, a multiple of it, viz. 10 T ergs, the so-called 'joule.' is used more generally. See Mechanical Units; and Mechanics. ER'GASTE'RIA. See Laurion. ERGOT (Fr. ergot, argot, spur, extremity of a dead branch). A name given to the peculiar, hard, purplish-black bodies that sometimes re- place the grain in the head of rye or other grasses. These ergots are the result of the de- velopment of the fungus Claviceps purpurea honeydew. within the ovaries of the grasses. They are usually solid, often slight h curved, and, although externally dark in color, an- white within, and when fresh they have a peculiar waxy or oily appearance and a heavy characteristic '"I., i Those produced on rye and some oilier grasses may lie many li larger than I lie seed which they replace, attaining a length of an inch or more; but in wheat and in some of the smaller "i.i- es thej are smaller than the seed, and i not be noticed until crushed, when they are recog nized by their odor. The fungous origin of ergot has been more or less understood since 1838, but its true cause and the life history of the organ- ism were unknown until Tulasne published the results of his investigations in 1S,");{. If a grain of ergot be placed in suitable conditions of mois- ture and temperature it will soon send out a number of small stalks, each surmounted by small globular heads which contain a multitude of spores. In nature these are produced from ergot sown with the grain, or from that which has fallen to the ground where it wintered, the spores maturing about the time the grass is in tlower. The ripened spores are blown about by the wind and some find lodgment upon the styles of the grass. Here they germinate and find their way into the ovary of the flower, where they develop an abundant mycelium and put out many short branches, each of which produces a single conidium. At the same time a sweet, milky juice is secreted, called which the conidia float about until carried away by insects visiting the flower for this sweet sub- stance. When taken to another flower the conidia germinate and set up a new infection similar to that already described. During all this time the fungus within the flowers continues to grow and forms a dense mass of hy- phre. completely obliterat- ing the seed whose place it occupies. Later, the forma- tion of conidia ceases, and the fully grown mycelium is transformed into the dark-colored ergot, which, when mature, falls to the ground or is harvested with the grain. Ergot is a powerful em- menagogue, ecbolic, and haemostatic, and is poison- ous to human beings and higher animals, and occu- pies an important place in medicine. For this pur- pose the ergot of rye is preferred, live principal supplies coming from Ger- many. Russia, and Spain. In some regions where er- got is abundant its presence in grain often makes flour injurious unless the grain be thoroughly screened before grinding. The most conspicuous constituent of ergot is a heavy, non-drying, inflammable fixed oil, soluble in ether, which is present to the extent of 30 EBGOT. Represented by the two black masses.