Erica (e-rī´ka), the heaths, a large genus of branched rigid shrubs, type of the nat. ord. Ericaceæ, most of which are natives of South Africa, a few being found in Europe and Asia. The leaves are narrow and rigid; the flowers are globose or tubular, and four-lobed. Five species are found in Britain.
Ericaceæ, a nat. ord. of gamopetalous Dicotyledons. Representative genera: Calluna, Erica, Rhododendron.
Erichsen (er´ik-sen), Sir John Eric, surgeon, born 1818, died in 1890. He was the son of a Copenhagen merchant, but spent nearly all his life in England. He studied at University College, London, became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1839, a fellow in 1845, and in 1850 professor of surgery and hospital surgeon at University College. In 1865 he succeeded Quain as professor of clinical surgery in the same college, but retired in 1875. Appointed president of University College in 1887, he also held that post till his death. He was chief surgeon extraordinary to Queen Victoria, and in 1895 was made a baronet. His most important work was his Science and Art of Surgery (1853), which has gone through many editions, and has been translated into several languages. He also published a volume on Concussion of the Spine (1875).
Er´icsson, John, engineer, born in Sweden 1803, died in 1889. He served for a time in the Swedish army; removed to London in 1826, and to New York in 1839. He is identified with numerous inventions and improvements in steam machinery and its applications. His chief inventions are his caloric engine, the screw propeller (1836), which has revolutionized navigation, and his turret-ships, the first of which, the Monitor, distinguished itself in the American Civil War, and inaugurated a new era in naval warfare. He afterwards devoted himself to studies of the earth's motion and the intensity of solar heat.
Eridanus, the River Eridanus (modern Po), one of the constellations of the ancient astronomy, in which Ptolemy catalogued thirty-four stars. Appropriately to its name, it covers a large expanse of the heavens, its northern portion, just to south-west of Orion, reaching the celestial equator. The part visible in our latitudes does not contain bright stars, but at the southern extremity is the first-magnitude Achernar, a conspicuous object to southern observers.
Erie (ē´ri), one of the great chain of North American lakes, between Lakes Huron and Ontario, about 265 miles long, 63½ miles broad at its centre, from 40 to 60 fathoms deep at the deepest part; area, 6900 sq. miles. The whole of its southern shore is within the territory of the United States, and its northern within that of Canada. It receives the waters of the upper lakes by Detroit River at its south-western extremity, and discharges its waters into Lake Ontario by the Niagara River at its north-east end. The Welland Canal enables vessels to pass from it to Lake Ontario. It is shallow compared with the other lakes of the series, and is subject to violent storms. The principal harbours are those on the United States side—Buffalo, Erie, and Cleveland.
Erie, a city, Pennsylvania, United States, an important railway and commercial centre on the southern shore of Lake Erie. There are numerous ironworks (including foundries, rolling-mills, and blast-furnaces), petroleum refineries, breweries, tanneries, and wood-working factories. The harbour is one of the best on the lake. Pop. 76,600.
Erie Canal, the largest in the United States, serving to connect the great lakes with the sea. It begins at Buffalo on Lake Erie, and extends to the Hudson at Albany. It is 363 miles long; has in all 72 locks; a surface width 70 feet, bottom width 42 feet, and depth 7 feet. It is carried over several large streams on stone aqueducts; cost nearly £2,000,000, and was opened in 1825. The navigation is free.
Erigena (e-rij´e-na), Joannes Scotus (Scotus, Scot, and Erigena, Irish-born), an eminent mediæval scholar and metaphysician, probably born of Scotch parentage in Ireland about 800-810, died in France about 875. He spent a great part of his life at the court of Charles the Bald of France, and was placed at the head of the school of the palace. The king further imposed upon him the double task of translating into Latin the Greek works of the pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite, and of composing a treatise against Godeschale on Predestination and Free-will. This treatise, and another, De Divisione Naturæ, contained many views in opposition to the teachings of the Church. They were condemned by the Councils of Valencia in 855 and of Langres in 859, and Pope Nicholas I demanded the immediate disgrace of the culprit. His subsequent history is not known.—Cf. Gardner, Studies in John the Scot.
Erin´na, a Greek poetess who lived about 600 B.C. She is said to have been an intimate friend of Sappho, and died at the age of eighteen.