Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 8, ELE-FOR

E R M [ 267 ] E R P
Envan Is about a cannon’s Hiot diftant from the fortrefs, and
tl tlie fpace between is full of houfes and markets. E.
Ermin- , Long. 44. 50. N. Lat. 40. 20. _
ER1PHYLE, in fabuloushiftory, a fifter of Adraf-
tus king of Argos, who married Amphiaraus. She was
daughter of Talaus and Lifimache. When her hulband
concealed himfelf that he might not accompany the
Argives in their expedition againft Thebes, where he
knew he was to perilh, Eriphyle fuftered herfelf to be
bribed by Polynices with a golden necklace which had
been formerly given to Hermione by the goddefs Ve¬
nus, and fire difeovered where Amphiaraus was. This
treachery of Eriphyle compelled him to go to the war ;
but before he departed, he charged his fon Alcmaeon
to murder his mother as foon as he was informed of his
death. Amphiarus periflred in the expedition ; and
his death was no fooner known than his halt injun&ions
were obeyed, and Eripbyle was murdered by the hands
of her fon.
ERIS, the goddefs of difeord among the Greeks.
She is the fame as the Difcordia of the Latins.
ERISICHTHON, in fabulous hiftory, a Theftalian,
fon of Triops, who derided Ceres and cut down her
groves. This impiety irritated the goddefs, who afflidted
him with continual hunger. He fquandered all hispof-
feftions to gratify the cravings of his appetite, and at
laft he devoured his own limbs for want of food. Some
faythat his daughter had the power of transforming
herfelf into whatever animal {he pleafed, and that Ihe
made ufe of that artifice to maintain her father, who
fold her, after which fhe aflumed another fliape, and be¬
came again bis property.
ERMIN. See Mustela, Mammalia Index.
Ermin, or Ermine, in Heraldry, denotes a white
field or fur, powdered or interfperfed with black fpots,
called powdering. It is fuppofed to reprefent the ikin
of an animal of the fame denomination. There is
however no animal whofe Ikin naturally correfponds to
the herald’s ermin.
The animal is milk white ; and fo far is it from ha¬
ving fpots, that tradition reports, that it will rather die
or be taken than fully its whitenefs. Whence its fym-
bolical ufe.
But white fldns having for many ages been ufed for
the linings of the robes of magiftrates and great men 5
the furriers at length, to add to their beauty, ufed to
few bits of the black tails of thofe creatures upon the
white {kins, to render them the more confpicuous.
Which alteration was introduced into armoury.
The fable fpots in ermin are not of any determinate
number, but they may be more or lefs at the pleafure
of the painter or furrier.
Ermin, an order of knights, inftituted in 1450 by
Francis I. duke of Bretagne, and formerly fubfifting in Erfmh
France. The collar of this order was of gold, compo- £ ]!nius<
fed of ears of corn in {altier ; at the end of which hung . y !
the ermin, with this infeription, a ma vie. But the
order expired when the dukedom of Bretagne was an¬
nexed to the crown of France.
Ermines, in Heraldry, the reverfe of ermine, i. e.
white fpots on a black field.
ERMINITES, in Heraldry, ftiould fignify little er¬
mines, but it is otherwife •, for it fignifies a white field
powdered with black, only that every fuch fpot hath a
little red hair on each. Erminites alfo fignify a yellow
field powdered with black, which the French exprefs
much better by or femee d'ermine de fable.
ERMINOIS, in Heraldry, fignifies the field or, and
the fpots black.
EROORO. See Alcedo, Ornithology Index.
EROS, (of ££<y?, “ love”), in Mythology, one of two
chiefs over all the other Cupids, being the caufe of
love. See Anteros.
EROTIA, a feftival in honour of Eros the god of
love. It was celebrated by the Thefpians every fifth
year with fports and games, when muficians and others
contended. If any quarrels or feditions had arifen
among the people, it was then ufual to offer facrifices
and prayers to the god, that he would totally remove
them.
EROTIC (derived from “ love 5” whence i^u-
'rir.oC), is applied to any thing which has a relation to
the paflion of love.
In medicine we find the phrafe delirium eroticum ufed
for a kind of melancholy contra&ed through excefs of
love.
EROSION, among phyfieians, denotes much the
fame with corrosion, only in a ftronger degree.
EROTESIS. See Oratory, N° 94.
ERPENIUS, Thomas, in Dutch Thomas of
ErpE, a celebrated profeffor of the Arabic language,
was born at Goreum in Holland in 1584, and edu¬
cated at Leyden. He applied himfelf to the orien¬
tal languages at the perfuafion of .Tofeph Scaliger $
and afterwards travelled into England, France, Italy,
and Germany, and everywhere obtained the efteem
of the learned. On his return to Holland, he was
made profeffor of Arabic in the univerfity of Leyden,
and died there in 1624. He publilhed a great many
excellent works, which fpread his reputation through
the whole learned world. It is faid, that the king
of Morocco admired fo greatly the letters of Erpeniiis
wrote to him in Arabic in the name of the United
Provinces, that he could not ceafe reading them, and
{bowing them to thofe who fpoke that language natu¬
rally.
ERPETQLOGY.
INTRODUCTION.
rT~’HE animals of which we propofe, under the general
title Erpetology, to give the claflification and na¬
tural hiftory, belong to the clafs Amphibia, and the or¬
der Reptilia, in the Linnaean arrangement. The ani¬
mals included under this clafs have obtained the deno¬
mination f amphibious, from the fuppofed circumftance
that they are equally capable of living both on land
and in the water. But in this view', the application of
the term is inaccurate, for there are few, or perhaps no
animals belonging to this clafs which can always exift,
L 1 2 or