Erskine, Ralph, brother of Ebenezer Erskine, born 1685, died 1752. He was ordained to the parish of Dunfermline in 1711, and in 1737 joined his brother, who had seceded from the Established Church. His Gospel Sonnets and other religious works were once very popular.
Erskine, Thomas, Lord Erskine, Scottish lawyer, the youngest son of the tenth Earl of Buchan, was born in 1750, and died in 1823. He was educated partly at the High School of Edinburgh, and partly at the University of St. Andrews. After serving four years in the navy and seven in the army, he commenced the study of law, and in 1778 both took his degree at Cambridge and was called to the Bar. His success was immediate. In May, 1783, he took silk, and the same year was elected member of Parliament for Portsmouth, a seat he held (except from 1784-90, when he had no seat) till 1806, when he was raised to the peerage. The rights of juries he firmly maintained on all occasions, but particularly in the celebrated trial of the Dean of St. Asaph for libel. In 1789 he defended Stockdale, a bookseller, for publishing what was charged as a libellous pamphlet in favour of Warren Hastings. In 1792, being employed to defend Thomas Paine, when prosecuted for the second part of his work The Rights of Man, he declared that, waiving all personal convictions, he deemed it right, as an English advocate, to obey the call: by the maintenance of which principle he lost his office of Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales. In the trials of Hardy, Tooke, and others for high treason in 1794, which lasted for several weeks, the ability displayed by Erskine was acknowledged by all parties. He was a warm partisan of Fox, and a strenuous opposer of the war with France. In 1802 the Prince of Wales not only restored him to his office of Attorney-General, but made him Keeper of Seals for the Duchy of Cornwall. On the death of Pitt, in 1806, Erskine was created a peer, and raised to the dignity of Lord Chancellor. During his short tenure of office the Bill for the abolition of slavery was passed. After he retired with the usual pension, he took little part in politics.
Eruptive Rocks, in geology, those which, as lavas, have broken through other rocks while in a molten state, and become eruptive at the surface.
Ervum. See Lentil.
Eryngium, a genus of plants belonging to the nat. ord. Umbelliferæ. There are upwards of 100 species found in temperate and sub-tropical climates, but chiefly in South America. E. maritĭmum, also called sea-holly, is the only truly native British species. It frequents sandy shores, and is distinguished by its rigid, spiny, glaucous, veined leaves, and its dense heads of blue flowers. The roots are sometimes candied, and are reputed to be stimulating and restorative, as well as to have aphrodisiac properties. It is mentioned by Shakespeare, Merry Wives, v. 5, 23, as an aphrodisiac.
Erysip´elas, Rose, or St. Anthony's Fire, is a contagious disease of the skin due to infection by a germ, the Streptococcus, and accompanied by severe general disturbance. Cold, damp weather favours its appearance. It rarely affects those under fifteen years, and is commoner in women than men. The disease is characterized by sudden onset, with shivering, headache, vomiting, and occasionally sore throat, followed by the appearance of the typical erysipelatous flush on the skin of the affected part, most usually the face. This part becomes deep red, and is much swollen, with a glossy, tender surface. It is definitely raised, and has a spreading edge merging into the normal parts around. In extreme cases there is marked disfigurement. Local treatment to allay pain and prevent spreading is by the application of lotions and ointments, and general treatment in the form of stimulating foods is given to maintain strength. Serum treatment has been used, but so far there have been very conflicting results. The disease is not so common nor so fatal as previously.
Erysipha´les, an important family of ascomycetous Fungi, distinguished by the presence of typical sexual organs and closed ascus-fruits (cleistocarps) which bear characteristic appendages concerned with dispersal; also by the fact that each segment of the septate mycelium contains a single nucleus. They are all parasites, appearing on leaves, stems, or fruits as white patches of mycelium ('mildew'). During summer innumerable conidia are produced, which spread the disease rapidly; in autumn the black ascus-fruits develop and carry the fungus through the winter. Erysiphales are responsible for many important plant-diseases, e.g. the mildew of hops (Sphærotheca Castagnei), vine (Uncinula spiralis), wheat (Erysiphe communis), and the American gooseberry mildew (Sphærotheca Mors-uvæ), a 'notifiable' disease in Britain.
Erythe´ma is redness of the skin, and in this sense is applied to a number of general conditions which bring about redness of the skin, e.g.
abscess, œdema, scarlet fever, &c. Of late, in medicine, its use has been more restricted, and refers only to an inflammation of part of the skin. This disease is characterized by redness and tenderness, and may become sufficiently severe to lead to the production of bullæ in the centre of the affected part. Dermatologists recognize various types of erythema.
Erythræ´an Sea, in ancient geography, a name given to what is now called the Indian Ocean, but including the Persian and Arabian Gulfs. The name was eventually restricted to the Arabian Gulf.