Epping Forest forms part of the ancient Waltham Forest, which covered the greater part of the county. All the “London Basin,” within which the Forest lies, was densely wooded. The Forest became one of the commonable lands of Royal Chases or hunting-grounds. It was threatened with total disafforestation, when under the Epping Forest Act of 1871 a board of commissioners was appointed for the better management of the lands. The corporation of the city of London then acquired the freehold interest of waste land belonging to the lords of the manor, and finally secured 5559½ acres, magnificently timbered, to the use of the public for ever, the tract being declared open by Queen Victoria in 1882. The Ancient Court of Verderers was also revived, consisting of an hereditary lord warden together with four verderers elected by freeholders of the county. The present forest lies between the valleys of the Roding and the Lea, and extends southward from Epping to the vicinity of Woodford and Walthamstow, a distance of about 7 m. It is readily accessible from the villages on its outskirts, such as Woodford, Chingford and Loughton, which are served by branches of the Great Eastern railway. These are centres of residential districts, and, especially on public holidays in the summer, receive large numbers of visitors.
EPPS, the name of an English family, well known in commerce and medicine. In the second half of the 18th century they had been settled near Ashford, Kent, for some generations, claiming descent from an equerry of Charles II., but were reduced in circumstances, when John Epps rose to prosperity as a provision merchant in London, and restored the family fortunes. He had four sons, of whom John Epps (1805-1869), George Napoleon Epps (1815-1874), and James Epps (1821-1907) were notable men of their day, the two former as prominent doctors who were ardent converts to homoeopathy, and James as a homoeopathic chemist and the founder of the great cocoa business associated with his name. Among Dr G.N. Epps’s children were Dr Washington Epps, a well-known homoeopathist, Lady Alma-Tadema, and Mrs Edmund Gosse.
ÉPRÉMESNIL (Ésprémesnil or Épréménil), JEAN JACQUES DUVAL D’ (1745-1794), French magistrate and politician, was born in India on the 5th of December 1745 at Pondicherry, his father being a colleague of Dupleix. Returning to France in 1750 he was educated in Paris for the law, and became in 1775 conseiller in the parlement of Paris, where he soon distinguished himself by his zealous defence of its rights against the royal prerogative. He showed bitter enmity to Marie Antoinette in the matter of the diamond necklace, and on the 19th of November 1787 he was the spokesman of the parlement in demanding the convocation of the states-general. When the court retaliated by an edict depriving the parlement of its functions, Éprémesnil bribed the printers to supply him with a copy before its promulgation, and this he read to the assembled parlement. A royal officer was sent to the palais de justice to arrest Éprémesnil and his chief supporter Goislard de Montsabert, but the parlement (5th of May 1788) declared that they were all Éprémesnils, and the arrest was only effected on the next day on the voluntary surrender of the two members. After four months’ imprisonment on the island of Ste Marguerite, Éprémesnil found himself a popular hero, and was returned to the states-general as deputy of the nobility of the outlying districts of Paris. But with the rapid advance towards revolution his views changed; in his Réflexions impartiales ... (January 1789) he defended the monarchy, and he led the party among the nobility that refused to meet with the third estate until summoned to do so by royal command. In the Constituent Assembly he opposed every step towards the destruction of the monarchy. After a narrow escape from the fury of the Parisian populace in July 1792 he was imprisoned in the Abbaye, but was set at liberty before the September massacres. In September 1793, however, he was arrested at Le Havre, taken to Paris, and denounced to the Convention as an agent of Pitt. He was brought to trial before the revolutionary tribunal on the 21st of April 1794, and was guillotined the next day.
D’Éprémesnil’s speeches were collected in a small volume in 1823. See also H. Carré, Un Précurseur inconscient de la Révolution (Paris, 1897).
EPSOM, a market town in the Epsom parliamentary division of Surrey, England, 14 m. S.W. by S. of London Bridge. Pop. of urban district (1901), 10,915. It is served by the London & South-Western and the London, Brighton & South Coast railways, and on the racecourse on the neighbouring Downs there is a station (Tattenham Corner) of the South-Eastern & Chatham railway. The principal building is the parish church of St Martin, a good example of modern Gothic, the interior of which contains some fine sculptures by Flaxman and Chantrey. Epsom (a contraction of Ebbisham, still the name of the manor) first came into notice when mineral springs were discovered there about 1618. For some time after their discovery the town enjoyed a wonderful degree of prosperity. After the Restoration it was often visited by Charles II., and when Queen Anne came to the throne, her husband, Prince George of Denmark, made it his frequent resort. Epsom gradually lost its celebrity as a spa, but the annual races held on its downs arrested the decay of the town. Races appear to have been established here as early as James I’s residence at Nonsuch, but they did not assume a permanent character until 1730. The principal races—the Derby and Oaks—are named after one of the earls of Derby and his seat, the Oaks, which is in the neighbourhood. The latter race was established in 1779, and the former in the following year. The spring races are held on a Thursday and Friday towards the close of April; and the great Epsom meeting takes place on the Tuesday and three following days immediately before Whitsuntide,—the Derby on the Wednesday, and the Oaks on the Friday (see [Horse-Racing]). The grand stand was erected in 1829, and subsequently enlarged; and there are numerous training stables in the vicinity. Close to the town are the extensive buildings of the Royal Medical Benevolent College, commonly called Epsom College, founded in 1855. Scholars on the foundation must be the sons of medical men, but in other respects the school is open. In the neighbourhood is the Durdans, a seat of the earl of Rosebery.
EPSOM SALTS, heptohydrated magnesium sulphate, MgSO4·7H2O, the magnesii sulphas of pharmacy (Ger. Bittersalz). It occurs dissolved in sea water and in most mineral waters, especially in those at Epsom (from which place it takes its name), Seidlitz, Saidschutz and Pullna. It also occurs in nature in fibrous excrescences, constituting the mineral epsomite or hair-salt; and as compact masses (reichardite), as in the Stassfurt mines. It is also found associated with limestone, as in the Mammoth Caves, Kentucky, and with gypsum, as at Montmartre. Epsom salts crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, being isomorphous with the corresponding zinc and nickel sulphates, and also with magnesium chromate. Occasionally monoclinic crystals are obtained by crystallizing from a strong solution. It is used in the arts for weighting cotton fabrics, as a top-dressing for clover hay in agriculture, and in dyeing. In medicine it is frequently employed as a hydragogue purgative, specially valuable in febrile diseases, in congestion of the portal system, and in the obstinate constipation of painters’ colic. In the last case it is combined with potassium iodide, the two salts being exceedingly effective in causing the elimination of lead from the system. It is also very useful as a supplement to mercury, which needs a saline aperient to complete its action. The salt should be given a few hours after the mercury, e.g. in the early morning, the mercury having been given at night. It possesses the advantage of exercising but little irritant effect upon the bowels. Its nauseous bitter taste may to some extent be concealed by acidifying the solution with dilute sulphuric acid, and in some cases where full doses have failed the repeated administration of small ones has proved effectual.