Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/281

* ETHIOPIA. 249 ETHNOGRAPHY. Denkmiilern (Leipzig, 1893); Maspero, Histoire ancienne des peuples de VOrieni classique. I Paris, 1805-99); Ludolf, Historia .-Ethiopiea (Frank- fort, Misl) ; Tellez, Historia general de Ethiopia (Coimbra, 1660); d'Almeida, Historia <le Ethi opia alta (1624); Bosset, "Etudes »ur l'histoire d'Ethiopie," in journal Asiatique (Paris, 1881) ; Dillmann, Ueber die Anfwnge des Axumitischen Reiches (Berlin, 1870) ; Perruchon, ■'Notes pour l'histoire d'Ethiopie," in Revue Semitique ( Paris, 1803); Glaser, Die Abyssinier in Arabien und Vfrika (Munich, 1895); Bent, The Sacred City of the Ethiopians (London, 1803) ; lirurc, Trareln in Abyssinia (Edinburgh, 1768-73) ; Hoskins, Travels in, Ethiopia (London, 1835); Dillmann, drammatik dcr aethiupischeii Sprnclic (Leipzig, 1859); Prretorius, Die amharische Spraehe (Halle, 1870); id., (Irammutik dcr Tigrina Spraehe (1871); Schrieber, Manuel de la langue Tiyra'i (Vienna, 1887). E THIOTIAN CHURCH. See Abyssinian Chubch. ETHIOPIAN PEPPER. See Guinea Pep- per. ETHIOPIAN REGION. In zoogeography, Africa south of the Sahara, and including Mada- gascar; that, is, the Paleotropical Region (q.v.). See Distribution of Animals. E THIOP'IC VERSION. See Bible. ETHIOPIC WRITING. The language of the Semitic Ethiopians, the lesana Qeez (see Geez), was at first written in the same characters that were used by the Minajans and Sabaeans. The origin of this South Arabian system of writing is still obscure. While some epigraphists regard it as a modification of the Phoenician alphabet, others are inclined to ascribe to it an independent origin. (See MiN/EANS.) The earliest Ethiopic inscrip- tions are written boustrophedon, i.e. as the ox plows, one line running from right to left, the next from left to right. Later the direction from left to right prevailed as in the Greek. Probably in the fourth century the Sabsean alphabet was modified by the introduction of a peculiar method of vowel notation. The various long or short vowel sounds were indicated by a lengthening or shortening of certain strokes or the addition of a stroke, a hook, or a circle. The signs thus be- came designations of syllables, and by 182 char- acters it was possible to express clearly the pro- nunciation of each word. It has been supposed by some scholars that this was an imitation of the Syriac vowel system. But the date of the Riippell inscriptions renders it more probable that the changes were suggested by missionaries familiar with the Indian brahma lipi or karosh- llii alphabets. As Buddhist missionaries seem to have visited Abyssinia before the introduction ol Christianity, it is possible that this important alteration is due to one of them. But it may also be the work of Frumentius. who is said to have labored in India before coming to Aksum. If so, it is likely that the vowel notation was intro- duced between a.d. 340 and 360. E'THIOPS (Eat., from Gk.AWio^, Aithiops, Ethiopian; so called from the color), or iETHi- opn. A term applied by alchemists to certain black oxides and sulphides that were used in medicine. Martini ethiops, or black oxide, a ferrous and ferric oxide prepared by keeping iron filings under water, was used a a tonic. Mineral ethiops, mercuric nlphide with an ex- <■ of sulphur, was made bj mixing together equal parts of mercury and sulphur in ■ an mi irtai and « i 'I a a i ei mil uge and alterative. Ethiops pe ■ was made bj agitat- ing mercury with access to the air. Vegeti ethiops, the plant bladder-wrack heated in a closed vessel until it became black, was used as a remedy for scrofula and similar diseases. ETH'MOID BONE ( Gk. i}0/u>«8j}j, Sthn U, like a sieve, i rom $0/i6i , < thmot , - ieve, from ijOitv, rlli, hi, to sift + eldos, eidos, form i . One of the eight bones which collectively form the cavity of the cranium, it i ol a somewhat bieal form, and is situated between the two orbits of the eyes, at the root of the nose, it, upper surface is perforated by a number of small openings (whence its name), through which the filaments of the olfactorj nerve pa downward from the interior of the skull to the upper part of the nose. It consists of two lateral ma i attached on each side of a vertical central plate or lamella, which articulates with the vomer and with the centra] fibro -cartilage, and thus assists in forming the septum or partition between the two nostrils. Each of the lateral masses is made up of two scrolls (turbinates) and is so planned as to give in a small space a very large amount of surface, on which the filaments of the olfac tory nerve are spread: In comparative anatomy, we find a direct ratio between the development of these masses and the acuteness of the sense of smell. See Nose; Smell. ETH'MYPHI'TIS. Sec Cellulitis. ETH'NIC PSYCHOL'OGY. See Psychol ogy. Ethnic. ETHNOG'RAPHY (from Gk. iihar, ethnos, people + -yiiacpia, -graphia, description, from ypa- (par, graphein, to write). That branch of an- thropology which is concerned with the syste- matic description of races and peoples. Ethnog- raphy may be described as the anthropology of those groups of human beings that have separate names — it may be a clan, a totem, a tribe, a na- tion, a race, or one of the great fundamental subdivisions of genus homo. There have been ethnographers from the very earliest times. Herodotus was an ethnographer, and so were Marco Polo and Mungo Park. A long line of pilgrims to the Holy City during the first millen- nium returned and narrated what they had ex- perienced among the peoples whom they en- countered, to their friends at home, and thus be- came ethnographers. The discovery of Amer- ica and the exploration of the earth gave a powerful impulse to this branch of anthropology. The result of studies concerning the divisions of mankind in the middle of the last century gave rise to a number of ethnographical societies under different names, the object of which was to introduce system into what had been only di ultory study. In England. France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and other European countries these associations have published journals, trans- actions, monographs, and guide-books of instruc- tions to travelers and observers, the best of them being a little volume issued by the Anthropo- logical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, called Notes mid Queries for Anthropological Obserrers. containing many sections on ethnog- raphy.