Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/231

* ESC AN ABA. 111!) ESCHATOLOGY. regular steamboat communication with a number' hi the lake ports, and is one- of the mosi impor- tant shipping points for the Lake Superior iron region. There are five iron ore docks with a capacity of 95,000 tons, and also large merchan- dise docks, the trade in coal, fish, and lumber being extensive. The city has a public library and a hospital; and among the prominent build- ings are the high school and public schools, city ball, county jail, and court-house. Population, in 1890, 6908; in 1900, 9549. ESCAPE (OF. escaper, eschaper, Fr. ichapper, It. scappare, to escape; probably from ML. ea nijiii, <ait of a cloak or cape, from Lat. cr, out, and ML. vii/ki. cape). In its broadest sense, the liberation of a person from lawful arrest in any manner or for any time, however short, not authorized by law. If the liberation is accom- plished by the prisoner himself with force, it is called prison-breaking, or prison-breach; if it is effected by others with force, it is called rescue. A person who aids a criminal in escap- ing, or in attempting to escape, is guilty, as a rule, of the same grade of crime and liable to the same punishment as the prisoner who es- capes. This principle applies also to officers who voluntarily permit an escape. If the officer is negligent, simply, he is guilty of a misde- meanor. When a person is imprisoned under a final judgment in a civil action, his escape ren- ders the sheriff, or officer having him in custody, liable for the judgment of debt. Consult the au- thorities referred to under Criminal Law. ESCAPE WARRANT. A warrant authorized by English statutes of 1702 and 1700 for the bet- ter preventing of escapes from the Queen's Bench and Fleet prisons. At present it is employed but rarely. A new warrant is not necessary for the rearrest of an escaped prisoner; but the person from whose custody he escapes may pursue and retake him, and may. after notice of his errand and refusal of admittance, break open doors or windows in order to effect the recap- ture. ESCAPEMENT. That, part of the machinery of a watch or clock by which the onward revolv- ing motion produced by the moving power, whither weights or spring, is brought into con- tact with the regulating movement of the pendu- lum or balance-wheel. See Clock; Watch. ESCARP, or SCARP (Fr. cscarpe, It. Scarpa, from Fr. escarper, It. scarpare, to cut steep). The side or slope of the ditch and parapet of a fortification next the rampart. When the ditch of a fortress is dry, the escarp is usually faced with mason-work, to render it difficult of ascent; and behind this facing, technically known as revetment (q.v.). there are often casemates (q.v.) for defense. See Fortification". ESCARPMENT. Sec Cliff. ESOATJT, a'sk,*.'. river Scheldt (q.v.). ESCHAR, es'kiir The French name for the (OF. escare, Lat. eschara, &K. taxi-pa, eschara, scab). A slough or portion of dead or disorganized tissue. The name is commonly applied to artificial sloughs produced by the application of caustics (q.v.). ESCHATOLOGY. es'ka-tol'o-ji (from Gk. U- X«tos, eschatos, last + -loyia, -logia, account, from tyav, legein, to say). The doctrine con- cerning man's existence utter death, the future of nations, and the Anal condition of the world. Even on the lower stages of religious di nieiil. speculation upon the things to come is not wholly limited to the fate ol the individual. The shifting fortunes of war and the varying success in obtaining supplies give rise to anxious or hopeful thoughts of what may befall the tribe. Devastating floods, flres, cyclones, earthquakes, or volcanic erupt iniw. and terroi inspiring eclipses of the heavenly bodies, suggest I lie pos sibility of a destruction of the world. Hut the higher forms of eschatological thought pre up pose a mure complex social organism and a closer observation of natural phenomena. It is espe- cially myths of astrological origin that furnish material for highly developed eschatologies, and oppression by nations aspiring to world-empire that supplies the impulse. Hope of deliverance from galling political servitude springs from a proud and outraged national consciousness, kept alive by the memory of past greatness, nnd dreams of empire are born of the example set by mighty conquerors and rulers holding nations in subjection. Only prolonged observation of the movements of the planets and the sun's < rse through the signs of the zodiac can render pos- sible the thought of a re-occurrence at the end of the present period of the events connected with the world's origin, and a renovation of the world after its destruction. Along the different lines of eschatological speculation there is, therefore, a general development reflecting the growth of man's intellectual and moral perceptions, his larger social experience, and his expanding knowl- edge of nature. The outward forms, however, vary according to the character of the environ- ment and the peculiar genius of each people, and are also influenced by the relative value accorded to the individual and to the nation or the world. It is seldom that an eschatological idea is found in any people that is without a parallel among other nations: but it is equally rare that the same idea occurs in exactly identical form in different systems of religious thought. Belief in a survival of the spirit or double, conceived as a material substance, in connection with the dead body as its local habitation as long as food and drink are furnished, gives little opportunity for the imagination. As, with the advance of civilization, the great cosmic forces come into prominence as objects of worship, and the departed spirits are brought into connection with them, the life beyond grows richer: ami as the peculiar tribal customs establish a standard of right and the effects of conformity are ob- served, the spirits themselves are made subject to the same laws of retribution, and a judgment after death is introduced. Through this two- fold development the future life may thus be spiritualized and assume a moral character, as in ancient Egypt. But it is also possible for the old conception of a shadowy existence in the grave or a subterranean realm to retain its hold in the main, while a way out of it into larger life, with moral distinctions, is found in the thought of a restoration and reanimation of the old body, thus insuring personal identity, a- in Persia and Judea. Or the spirit may be con- ceived of as entering immediately upon death into another body, to live again and die and be- come re-incarnated in ever new forms, as in India. This doctrine of metempsychosis renders it pos-