[Elohist], a name given by the critics to the presumed author of the earlier part of the Pentateuch, whose work in it they allege is distinguished by the use of the word Elohim for God; he is to be distinguished from the Jehovist, the presumed author of the later portions, from his use, on the other hand, of the word Jehovah for God.
[Elphinstone, George Keith, Admiral]. See [Keith].
[Elphinstone, Mountstuart], a noted Indian civil servant and historian; co-operated with Wellesley in firmly establishing British rule in India; was governor of Bombay, where he accomplished many useful reforms, and issued the Elphinstone Code of Laws; wrote a "History of India," which earned for him the title of the "Tacitus of India" (1779-1859).
[Elphinstone, William], an erudite and patriotic Scottish ecclesiastic and statesman, born in Glasgow; took holy orders; went to Paris to study law, and became a professor in Law there, and afterwards at Orleans; returned to Scotland; held several high State appointments under James III. and James IV.; continued a zealous servant of the Church, holding the bishoprics of Ross and of Aberdeen, where he founded the university (1431-1514).
[Elsass] (French Alsace), a German territory on the left bank of the Rhine, traversed by the Vosges Mountains; taken from the French in 1870-71.
[Elsinore], a seaport on the island of Zeeland, in Denmark, 20 m. N. of Copenhagen; has a good harbour; the scene of Shakespeare's "Hamlet."
[Elswick] (53), a town in the vicinity of Newcastle, noted for the great engineering and ordnance works of Sir W. G. (now Lord) Armstrong.
[Elton], a salt lake of SE. Russia, in the government of Astrakhan; has an area of about 65 sq. m., but is very shallow; yields annually some 90,000 or 95,000 tons of salt, which is shipped off viâ the Volga.
[Elton, Charles Isaac], jurist and ethnologist, born in Somerset; held a Fellowship in Queen's College, Oxford; called to the bar in 1865, and in 1884 was returned to Parliament as a Conservative; his first works were juridical treatises on the tenure of land, but in 1882 he produced a learned book on the origins of English history; b. 1839.
[Elvas], a strongly fortified town in Portugal, in the province of Alemtejo, 12 m. W. of Badajoz; is a bishop's see; has a Moorish aqueduct 3½ m. long and 250 ft. high.