Diderot used in making the famous Encyclopédie, which became the organ of the most advanced and revolutionary thought of the time, and gave a name, the Encyclopedists, to a party of philosophers and politicians. The great Encyclopedia Britannica first appeared at Edinburgh in 1768-71, and has since gone through ten editions. Other popular encyclopaedias are Charles Knight's Penny Cyclopedia and Chambers' New Encyclopedia. Of American works may be mentioned The Americana, the New International and the Universal Cyclopedia.
En'dicott, John, colonial governor of Massachusetts, was born in 1589, at Dorchester, England, and landed as manager of the Plantation of Naumkeag (Salem) in 1628. In 1630 London's Plantation became a part of the government of New England, and Endicott gave place to John Winthrop as governor. Six years later he headed a bloody but useless expedition against the Block Island and Pequot Indians. Except for five years, he was deputy-governor or governor of the Massachusetts colony from 1641 to 1665. Endicott was a zealous Puritan, high-tempered, kind and brave. He manifested some personal peculiarities: He cut out the cross from the military standard, had four Quakers put to death, forced the women to wear veils at public assemblies and was opposed to long hair. He died at Boston, March 15, 1665.
En'dosperm (in plants). A food-tissue within the embryo-sac (which see) of seed-plants and used by the embryo. It makes up the bulk of many seeds, as in pines and the cereals, and contains stored food of various kinds, prominent among which is starch. It is sometimes soft and mealy, and in other cases it is horny. In the so-called vegetable ivory it is as hard as the name suggests. An obsolete name for it is albumen. In the alternation of generations (which see) it is a gametophyte, and being associated with the egg it evidently is a female gametophyte. See Seed.
Endym'ion, in Greek myth, a youth famous for his beauty and never-ending sleep. As he slept on Mt. Latmos in Caria, his beauty warmed the cold heart of Selene (the moon) who came down to kiss him and to lie by his side. It was said that Selene had sent him to sleep that she might kiss him without his knowing. On this story Keats wrote his well-known poem Endymion.
Enfield Rifle. See Rifle.
Engine. See Steam-Engine.
Engineering, the work of constructing, designing or operating machines or other structures or equipment having for their aim the economic and scientific utilization of the various forces and resources of nature for the purposes of man. Originally engineering could be classified under the two main headings of civil and military engineering, but modern developments have been so great as to bring into prominence many different forms, such as mechanical, mining, electrical, chemical and sanitary engineering, leaving the term civil engineering to such phases, exclusive of strictly military and marine work, as are not included under these special headings. The old distinction between the civil and military engineer is rapidly disappearing.
The work of engineers is in connection with such things as canals, harbors, bridges, railways, mining and metallurgical plants, factories, sewage-systems, city water-works, lighting and power-plants, machines of various kinds, submarine boats etc. In fact the services of the engineer are required in nearly all modern industrial, municipal and military operations which are to be economically, methodically and scientifically carried out on an extensive scale. All of the discoveries and laws of science and mathematics are here practically applied and utilized for the improvement of man's material wellbeing so far as the ingenuity of the engineer will permit. Thus the utilization by modern engineers of steam-power discovered by Watt now enables one man to do as much work as formerly required thirteen or fourteen hundred men.
The military engineer in the field has to see to such things as the overcoming of obstructions to the marching or transportation of troops, military surveys, construction of maps, selection of camping-grounds, communication, field-fortifications, methods of siege etc. The term ordnance-engineer is often given to those officers whose work consists in designing or constructing cannon or firearms. Engineers of all kinds are now employed in connection with military and naval works, but they are not usually called military engineers unless given a military commission.
The preliminary training for engineers is given in the various technical schools, but one can scarcely hope to be entrusted with important engineering works until he has had several years of practical experience. For the degree of C. E. or M.E. most engineering schools of repute require four years of undergraduate work, about three years of successful experience and one year of graduate work. The four-year courses for the most part aim to give a thorough grounding in mathematics and physics, with special reference to the various forms and applications of power, the strength and qualities of the ordinary materials used in construction, freehand and mechanical drawing and the use of the common engineering instruments. A considerable amount of time is also expected to be spent in practical shopwork.
As the work of the engineer requires a considerable amount of maturity and ability to secure a firm, accurate grasp of fundamental relations, it is best that one
