Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/307

* EUPHORBIACE^E. 273 EUPHRATES. there are species of which the juice is bland, or becomes bland through the application of heat, SO that their leaves may lie used as food. The leaves in this order exhibit great diversities. The inflorescence is also various. Nearly every type of inflorescence is found in this order. The flowers are always unisexual, and may be monne- cious or dioecious. Ins e species the perianth con sisls of one or two whorls, in others it is wholly absent: when present, it is usually live-parted. The stamefis are one to many and variously united. The ovary is usually three-lobed, the car- pels splitting elastically and throwing the seed to some distance. This is shown well in the drying of castor-beans. Among those remarkable for the acridity of their juice are the manchineel (q.v.) and Excecaria Agallocha, an East Indian tree, formerly supposed to yield one of the kinds of aloes-wood, the smoke from the burning of which is extremely irritating to the eyes. The juice of many of the spurges is also very acrid. Many of the Euphorbiacese are valued for their medicinal properties, different parts of the plant being in some instances employed, and in some the resin and oils which they contain. Many of the Euphorbiacese yield valuable products — rub- ber, cassava, castor oil, croton oil, euphorbia oil, candlenut, cascarilla, African teak, etc. (See Hevea.; Manihot.) Others, such as Croton and Codiaeums, are often cultivated in gardens and hothouses, more frequently for their curious ap- pearance than for their beauty; but the large scarlet bracts of Euphorbia pulcherrima, a na- tive of Mexico, are very attractive. The prin- cipal genera are Phyllanthus, Croton, Mer- curialis, Acalypha, Ricinus, Dalcchampia. Hevea, Jatropha, Manihot, Codhrum. Stillingia, Hura. Euphorbia, Poranthera, and Kicinocarpus. See Plate of Edelweiss. ETJPHOR'BIUM. A gum resin. See Gums. EUPHOR'BUS (Lat., from Gk. KC0op/ios). One of the bravest of the Trojan warriors, the son of Panthous and Phrontis. He first wounded Patroclus when the latter was fighting in the armor of Achilles, and was slain by Menelaus. ETJPHO'RION (Lat., from Gk. Etfoplav), (276-C.200 B.C.). A Greek poet and gram- marian. He was born at Chaleis. in Eubcea, but studied at Athens, and became librarian to Anti- ochus the Great about B.C. 220. His works, which included historical and grammatical productions in prose, epics, elegies, and epigrams, were cen- sured by Cicero as affectedly obscure. Among the Romans of the Augustan period, however, he was very popular, and his elegies are said to have been the models for those of Gallus. Frag- ments of his works are published in Meineke's l)r Euphorionis 1'ita et Scriptis (Berlin, 1823) and Analecta Alexandrina (Berlin, 1843), and in Kock's Fragmenta Comioorum Grmcorum ( Leipzig, lsso). The amours of Euphorion with Nicia, the wife of King Alexander of Eubcea, are frequently alluded to in the poems of the Greek Anthology. EUPHRA'NOR (Lat., from Gk. E&<jy<£i/wp). A sculptor and painter of Corinth, who lived in l lie middle of the fourth century B.C. His most celebrated painting was in the Stoa Basileios at Athens. It represented the tw-elve gods, Theseus with the People, and Democracy, and the charge of the Athenian cavalry at Mantinea (B.C. 362). Among his statues were an Apollo, a Paris, and a Leto, with Apollo and Artemis in her arms. fleeing from the serpent. Furtwangler | Ueister- icerke der griech. Plastik, Berlin, 1893) ha- pro- posed i" identify a number of well-known ! with ancient copies of the works of Euphranor, I " them the "Dionysus" from Tivoli and the At licna Giusl iniani oi t he Vatii an EUPHRATES, Ci-fra'tSzl Lat., from Gk. E%«£- t>)5, OPers. Ufr&tes, Heb. Per&th, Assyr. Pu- rattu, Ar. FurSt, Turk. Fr&t, from Sumerian Pura-mun, greal water). A river of Asia, forming, with its tributary, the Tigris (q.v.), the principal river system of the southwest- ern part of the continent (Map: Tuil.. in Asia. K ."> i . It has its source in the heart oi i nicnia, in two brandies, the Kara Su, or Western Euphrates, and the Murad Su, or Eastern Euphra- tes, the former rising -'< miles northeast of the town of Erzerum and flowing southwest to a point below Serai jik, where it is met bj the Murad Su, which rises on the southern slope of Ala-Dagh and (lows west-southwesl to the point of confluence. From Serai jik the Euphrates Hows in a general southerly direction, inclin- ing at first to the east, but later with a ten- dency westward toward the Mediterranean. In this part of its course it breaks through the Anti-Taurus, and flows among the mountains for 45 miles, emerging at Samsat, whence it con- tinues uninterrupted by rapids to the sea, a dis- tance of 1200 miles. Before reaching Rum Kaleh it changes its direction, and, flowing south, sepa- rates for some distance Mesopotamia from Syria and the deserts of Syrian Arabia. Curving to the southeast, it flows on without receiving any important tributaries for about 700 miles, until it is joined at Kurna by the Tigris. From Kurna the river takes the name of the Sbat-el- Arab, and continues to flow in a southeast direc- tion until, after being united by a canal with the Karun from the east, it discharges its waters through several arms into the Persian Gulf, 90 miles below Kurna. The total length of the Eu- phrates is over 1700 mile-, while the area of its basin is estimated at 2G0.O00 square miles. Notwithstanding its size, the Euphrates is of little commercial importance, and has very little influence on the economic life of the region through which it flows. It is navigable for light vessels from Babylon to the sea, a distance of about 450 miles, but even the portion below the confluence of the Tigris is not always of sufficient depth for navigation. Aside from the Tigris, the chief tributaries are the Khabur and Xahr P.elik from the east: from the wesl arc received the intermittent waters of a number of wady- like streams. Originally the river emptied di- rectly into the Persian Gulf; the accretions to the soil, due to depo-its at the mouth, which, it is estimated, proceed at the rate of one mile in fifty years, have brought about the change and caused it to unite with the Tigris at Kurna. Historically the Euphrates i- second in im- portance to no river in the world. It flowed west of Assyria ami through Babylonia, and is closely connected with the early Oriental world empires. In ancient times it carried considerable com- merce and travel, being navigated by means of boats of wicker-work smeared with bitumen. The plains along its lower course were intersected by an elaborate system of irrigation canals, and, fertilized by the annual overflow, which takes place from the beginning of March to the end of May, were of great productiveness and supported