Ehrlich, Paul, German physician, born in Silesia in 1854, died in 1915. Educated at Breslau, Strasburg, and Leipzig, he became privat-dozent at the University of Berlin in 1889, and in 1896 was appointed director of the Royal Institute for Serum Research at Steglitz, which was transferred to Frankfurt in 1899, and became the Royal Institute for Experimental Therapeutics. His studies in the histology of blood are very important, but his claim to fame is based upon his discovery of salvarsan (606) and of neosalvarsan (614), arsenic compounds which are very efficacious in the treatment of syphilis. He delivered the Croonian lectures in 1900 and the Harben lectures in 1907, received honorary degrees from the universities of Oxford and Chicago, and in 1908 shared the Nobel prize for medicine with Metchnikoff of the Institut Pasteur in Paris. His works include: Beiträge zu Histologie und Klinik des Blutes, Anæmie, Abhandlungen über Salvarsan, &c.
Eibenstock (ī´ben-stok), a town in the south-east of Saxony, with important manufactures of lace. Pop. 9528.
Eichhorn (īh´horn), Johann Gottfried, German Orientalist, historian, &c., born in 1752, died in 1827. He became professor of Oriental languages at Jena, and then at Göttingen. Amongst his works are: The Hebrew Prophets, History of Literature, History of the Last Three Centuries, Introductions to the Old and New Testaments and to the Apocrypha.
Eichstätt (īh´stet), an old town, Bavaria, in a deep valley of the Altmühl, 67 miles N.N.W. of Munich. Its principal edifice is a fine Gothic cathedral, founded in 1259. Pop. 8029.
Eider (ī´dėr), a river of Schleswig-Holstein, rises 8 miles S. of Kiel, and after a winding course falls into the North Sea at Tönning; length, 112 miles. By means of a canal it long gave communication between the North Sea and Baltic, but the new ship canal here has superseded this route.
Eider Duck (Somateria mollissĭma), a species of duck found from 45° north to the highest latitudes yet visited, both in Europe and America. Its favourite haunts are solitary rocky shores and islands. In Greenland and Iceland they occur in great numbers, and also breed on the western
islands of Scotland. The eider duck is about twice the size of the common duck, being about 2 feet 3 inches in length, 3 feet in breadth of wing, and from 6 to 7 lb. in weight. The male is black, head and back white, with a black crown. The female is reddish drab spotted with black, and with two white bands on the wings. They feed largely on shell-fish and crustaceans. Their nests are usually formed of drift grass or dry seaweed, lined with a large quantity of down, which the female plucks from her own breast. In this soft bed she lays five eggs, which she covers over with a layer of down. If this, with the eggs, is removed, the bird repeats the process. One female generally furnishes about ½ lb. of down, but the quantity is reduced by cleaning. This down, from its superior warmth, lightness, and elasticity, is in great demand for beds and coverlets; and the districts in Norway and Iceland where these birds abound are guarded with the greatest vigilance as a most valuable property. As found in commerce this down is in balls of the size of a man's fist, and weighing from 3 to 4 lb. It is so fine and elastic that 5 lb. of the best quality is sufficient for a whole bed. The down from dead birds is little esteemed, having lost its elasticity. The king eider duck (Somateria spectabílis) is another species resembling the preceding and inhabiting the same coasts.—Cf. J. G. Millais, British Diving Ducks.
Eiffel (ā-fel), Alexandre Gustave, French engineer, born in 1832; attended, from 1852 to 1855, the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures at Paris, and devoted himself chiefly to the designing of large structures in iron, especially bridges and viaducts, the great bridge over the Douro being one of his works. His name is best known, however, from the lofty iron tower erected by him in connection with the Paris Exhibition of 1889, rising to the height of 985 feet on the Champ de Mars. He was condemned in 1893 to two years' imprisonment and a fine of 20,000 francs for misappropriation of funds belonging to the Panama Canal Company, but the judgment was set aside on technical grounds. In 1913 he published a work entitled Resistance of the Air. See next article.
Eiffel Tower, a structure named after the originator, one of the sights of Paris, is by far the loftiest structure in existence, surpassing the Washington Obelisk, the next highest (555 feet), by 430 feet. It cost about £260,000, and was erected partly at the cost of the State, partly by funds provided by Eiffel himself, who formed a company for the purpose. The company derived its profits from the fees which visitors had to pay, but the tower became the property of the State in 1909. The top may be reached by stairs and lifts. The first stage or platform is at the height of 189 feet, and forms a quadrilateral 213 feet square, fitted up as a restaurant. The next platform is at the height of about 380 feet, and is 98 feet square. The third platform is at the height of 906 feet, and is large enough to accommodate a good number of persons, affording a magnificent view. The lantern higher up is supplied with powerful electric searchlights, and on the very summit is a small area utilized chiefly for scientific observations. The tower has been utilized in experiments connected with the fall of bodies, vibration of the pendulum, and pressure of the air. In recent years the tower has become an important wireless telegraphy station.