[Embalming], the art of preserving dead bodies from decay by means of antiseptic agents applied both externally and internally; although known to other people, e. g. the Peruvians, the art was chiefly practised among the Egyptians, and the practice of it dates back to 4000 B.C.; the thoroughness of the process depended on the money expended, but it usually involved the removal of the viscera, save the heart and kidneys, the extraction of the brain, the introduction of drugs to the cavities, and the pickling of the body in native carbonate of soda, and the wrapping of it in linen; experiments in embalming, more or less successful, have been made in recent times, and even still are.
[Ember Days], four annually recurring periods of three days each, appointed by the Romish and English Churches to be devoted to fasting and praying; they are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, after Pentecost, after the 14th September, and after the 13th December.
[Embryo], the scientific term for the young of an animal while yet in the initial stage of development in the womb; also applied to the plant in its rudimentary stage within the seed.
[Embryology], the section of biology which treats of the development of the embryo.
[Emden] (14), the chief part of the province of Hanover, in Prussia, situated at the outlet of the river Ems; is intersected by canals; shipbuilding and brewing are the chief industries.
[Emerald], a precious stone of great value, allied in composition to the beryl; is of a beautiful transparent green colour; the finest specimens are found in Colombia and Venezuela.
[Emerald Isle], Ireland, from the fresh verdure of its herbage.
[Emerson, Ralph Waldo], an American philosophic thinker and poet, of English Puritan descent, born at Boston, where he started in life as a Unitarian preacher and pastor, an office he resigned in 1832 for literature, in which he found he would have freer and fuller scope to carry out his purpose as a spiritual teacher; in 1833 he paid a visit to England, and in particular a notable one to [Craigenputtock] (q. v.), with the inmates of which he formed a lifelong friendship; on his return the year after, he married, a second time as it happened, and, settling down in Concord, began his career as a lecturer and man of letters; by his "Essays," of which he published two series, one in 1841 and a second in 1844, he commended himself to the regard of all thinking men in both hemispheres, and began to exercise an influence for good on all the ingenuous youth of the generation; they were recognised by Carlyle, and commended as "the voice of a man"; these embraced subjects one and all of spiritual interest, and revealed transcendent intellectual power; they were followed by "Representative Men," lectures delivered in Manchester on a second visit to England in 1847, and thereafter, at successive periods, by "Society and Solitude," "English Traits," "The Conduct of Life," "Letters and Social Aims," besides a long array of poems, as well as sundry remarkable Addresses and Lectures, which he published; he was a man of exceptional endowment and great speculative power, and is to this day the acknowledged head of the literary men of America; speculatively, Carlyle and he were of the same school, but while Carlyle had "descended" from the first "into the angry, noisy Forum with an argument that could not but exasperate and divide," he continued pretty much all his days engaged in little more than in a quiet survey and criticism of the strife; Carlyle tried hard to persuade him to "descend," but it would appear Emerson never to his dying day understood what Carlyle meant by the appeal, an appeal to take the devil by the throat and cease to merely speculate and dream (1803-1882).
[Emerson Tennent, Sir James], bred for the bar; was from 1845 to 1852 colonial secretary and lieutenant-governor of Ceylon, and became on his return joint-secretary to the Board of Trade; wrote "Christianity in Ceylon" and "Ceylon: an Account of the Island" (1804-1869).
[Emery], a dull, blue-black mineral, allied in composition to the sapphire, but containing a varying quantity of iron oxide; is found in large masses; is exceedingly hard, and largely used in polishing metals, plate-glass, and precious stones.