ordinary professor of practical philosophy, but in 1836 he resigned and took up his residence at Kirchheim, where he devoted his whole attention to philosophical studies. Eschenmayer’s views are largely identical with those of Schelling, but he differed from him in regard to the knowledge of the absolute. He believed that in order to complete the arc of truth philosophy must be supplemented by what he called “non-philosophy,” a kind of mystical illumination by which was obtained a belief in God that could not be reached by mere intellectual effort (see Höffding, Hist. of Mod. Phil., Eng. trans. vol. 2, p. 170). He carried this tendency to mysticism into his physical researches, and was led by it to take a deep interest in the phenomena of animal magnetism. He ultimately became a devout believer in demoniacal and spiritual possession; and his later writings are all strongly impregnated with the lower supernaturalism.
His principal works are—Die Philosophie in ihrem Übergange zur Nichtphilosophie (1803); Versuch die scheinbare Magie des thierischen Magnetismus aus physiol. und psychischen Gesetzen zu erklären (1816); System der Moralphilosophie (1818); Psychologie in drei Theilen, als empirische, reine, angewandte (1817, 2nd ed. 1822); Religionsphilosophie (3 vols., 1818–1824); Die Hegel’sche Religionsphilosophie verglichen mit dem christl. Princip (1834); Der Ischariotismus unserer Tage (1835) (directed against Strauss’s Life of Jesus); Konflikt zwischen Himmel und Hölle, an dem Dämon eines besessenen Mädchens beobachtet (1837); Grundriss der Naturphilosophie (1832); Grundzüge der christl. Philosophie (1840); and Betrachtungen über den physischen Weltbau (1852).
ESCHER VON DER LINTH, ARNOLD (1807–1872), Swiss
geologist, the son of Hans Conrad Escher (1767–1823), was born
at Zürich on the 8th of June 1807. In 1856 he became professor
of geology at the École Polytechnique at Zürich. His researches
led him to be regarded as one of the founders of Swiss geology.
With B. Studer he produced (1852–1853) the first elaborate
geological map of Switzerland. He was the author also of
Geologische Bemerkungen über das nördliche Vorarlberg und einige
angrenzenden Gegenden, published at Zürich in 1853. He died
on the 12th of July 1872.
ESCHSCHOLTZ, JOHANN FRIEDRICH (1793–1831), Russian
traveller and naturalist, was born in November 1793, at Dorpat,
where he died in May 1831. He was naturalist and physician
to Otto von Kotzebue’s exploring expedition during 1815–1818.
On his return he was appointed extraordinary professor of
anatomy (1819) and director of the zoological museum of the
university at Dorpat (1822), and in 1823–1826 he accompanied
Kotzebue on his second voyage of discovery. He became
ordinary professor of anatomy at Dorpat in 1828. Among his
publications were the System der Akalephen (1829), and the
Zoologischer Atlas (1829–1833). The botanical genus Eschscholtzia
was named by Adelbert von Chamisso in his honour.
ESCHWEGE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Hesse-Nassau, on the Werra, and the railway Treysa-Leinefelde,
28 m. S.E. of Cassel. Pop. (1905) 11,113. It consists of the old
town on the left, the new town on the right, bank of the Werra,
and Brückenhausen on a small island connected with the old
and new town by bridges. It is a thriving manufacturing town,
its chief industries being leather-making, yarn-spinning, cotton- and
linen-weaving, the manufactures of cigars, brushes, liquors
and oil, and glue- and soap-boiling. It has two ancient buildings,
the Nikolai-turm, built in 1455, and the old castle. After being
part of Thuringia, Eschwege passed to Hesse in 1263. It was
recovered by the landgrave of Thuringia in 1388, but soon
reverted to Hesse, and it became the residence of one of the
branches of the Hessian royal house, a branch which died out in
1655.
ESCHWEILER, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine
province, on the Inde, and the railways Cologne-Herbesthal
and Munich-Gladbach-Stolberg, about 8 m. E.N.E. from Aix-la-Chapelle.
Pop. (1905) 20,643. The town has an Evangelical
and four Roman Catholic churches, a gymnasium and an orphanage.
The manufacture of iron and steel goods is carried on;
other industries include the manufacture of zinc wares, tanning,
distilling and brewing. In the neighbourhood there are valuable
coal mines.
See Koch, Geschichte der Stadt Eschweiler (Frankfort, 1890).
ESCOBAR Y MENDOZA, ANTONIO (1589–1669), Spanish
churchman of illustrious descent, was born at Valladolid in
1589. He was educated by the Jesuits, and at the age of fifteen
took the habit of that order. He soon became a famous preacher,
and his facility was so great that for fifty years he preached
daily, and sometimes twice a day. In addition he was a voluminous
writer, and his works fill eighty-three volumes. His first
literary efforts were Latin verses in praise of Ignatius Loyola
(1613) and the Virgin Mary (1618); but he is best known as a
writer on casuistry. His principal works belong to the fields
of exegesis and moral theology. Of the latter the best known
are Summula casuum conscientiae (1627); Liber theologiae
moralis (1644), and Universae theologiae moralis problemata
(1652–1666). The first mentioned of these was severely criticised
by Pascal in the fifth and sixth of his Provincial Letters, as
tending to inculcate a loose system of morality. It contains
the famous maxim that purity of intention may be a justification
of actions which are contrary to the moral code and to human
laws; and its general tendency is to find excuses for the majority
of human frailties. His doctrines were disapproved of by many
Catholics, and were mildly condemned by Rome. They were
also ridiculed in witty verses by Molière, Boileau and La Fontaine,
and gradually the name Escobar came to be used in France as a
synonym for a person who is adroit in making the rules of
morality harmonize with his own interests. Escobar himself
is said to have been simple in his habits, a strict observer of the
rules of his order, and unweariedly zealous in his efforts to reform
the lives of those with whom he had to deal. It has been said of
him that “he purchased heaven dearly for himself, but gave
it away cheap to others.” He died on the 4th of July 1669.
ESCOIQUIZ, JUAN (1762–1820), Spanish ecclesiastic, politician
and writer, was born in Navarre in 1762. His father was a
general officer and he began life as a page in the court of King
Charles III. He entered the church and was provided for by
a prebend at Saragossa. Godoy in his memoirs asserts that
Escoiquiz sought to gain his favour by flattery. There is every
reason to believe that this is an accurate statement of the case.
The mere fact that he was selected to be the tutor of the heir-apparent,
Ferdinand, afterwards King Ferdinand VII., is of
itself a proof that he exerted himself to gain the goodwill of the
reigning favourite. In 1797 he published a translation of Young’s
Night Thoughts, which does not of itself show that he was well
acquainted with English, for the version may have been made
with the help of the French. In 1798 he published a long and
worthless so-called epic on the conquest of Mexico. Escoiquiz
was in fact a busy and pushing member of the literary clique
which looked up to Godoy as its patron. But his position as
tutor to the heir to the throne excited his ambition. He began
to hope that he might play the part of those court ecclesiastics
who had often had an active share in the government of Spain.
As Ferdinand grew up, and after his marriage with a Neapolitan
princess, he became the centre of a court opposition to Godoy
and to his policy of alliance with France. Escoiquiz was the
brains, as far as there were any brains, of the intrigue. His
activity was so notorious that he was exiled from court, but was
consoled by a canonry at Toledo. This half measure was as
ineffective as was to have been expected. Escoiquiz continued
to be in constant communication with the prince. Toledo is
close to Madrid, and the correspondence was easily maintained.
He had a large share in the conspiracy of the Escorial which
was detected on the 28th of October 1807. He was imprisoned
and sent for trial with other conspirators. But as they had
appealed to Napoleon, who would not suffer his name to be
mentioned, the government had to allow the matter to be hushed
up, and the prisoners were acquitted. After the outbreak at
Aranjuez on the 17th of March 1808, in which he had a share,
he became one of the most trusted advisers of Ferdinand. The
new king’s decision to go to meet Napoleon at Bayonne was
largely inspired by him. In 1814 Escoiquiz published at Madrid
his Idea Sencilla de las razones que motivaron el viage del Rey
Fernando VII. à Bayona (Honest representation of the causes
which inspired the journey of King Ferdinand VII. to Bayonne).
