ERICSSON, JOHN, a distinguished Swedish engineer, born at
Langbanshyttan; went to England in 1826 and to United States of America
in 1839, where he died; invented the screw propeller of steamships; built
warships for the American navy, and amongst them the famous _Monitor_;
his numerous inventions mark a new era in naval and steamship
construction (1802-1889).

ERIE, LAKE, the fourth in size among the giant lakes of North
America, lies between Lakes Huron and Ontario, on the Canadian border, is
240 m. long and varies from 30 to 60 m. in breadth; is very shallow, and
difficult to navigate; ice-bound from December till about April.

ERIGENA, JOHANNES SCOTUS, a rationalistic mystic, the most
distinguished scholar and thinker of the 9th century, of Irish birth;
taught at the court of Charles the Bald in France, and was summoned by
Alfred to Oxford in 877; died abbot of Malmesbury; held that "damnation
was simply the consciousness of having failed to fulfil the divine
purpose"; he derived all authority from reason, and not reason from
authority, maintaining that authority unfounded on reason was of no
value; _d_. 882.

ERIN, the ancient Celtic name of Ireland, used still in poetry.

ERINNA, a Greek poetess, the friend of Sappho, died at 19; wrote
epic poetry, all but a few lines of which has perished; born about
612 B.C.

ERINNYES, THE (i. e. the roused-to-anger, in Latin, the Furies),
the Greek goddesses of vengeance, were the daughters of Gaia, begotten of
the blood of the wounded Uranus, and at length reckoned three in number,
Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megara; they were conceived of as haunting the
wicked on earth and scourging them in hell; they were of the court of
Pluto, and the executioners of his wrath.

ERIS, the Greek goddess of strife or discord, sowing the seeds
thereof among the gods to begin with, which she has since continued to do
among men.

ERIVAN (15), a fortified town in Transcaucasia, situated 30 m. NE.
of Mount Ararat on an elevated plateau; was ceded to Russia in 1828 by
Persia.

ERLANGEN (13), a Bavarian town on the Regnitz, has a celebrated
Protestant university, founded by Wilhelmina, sister of Frederick the
Great, who was the Electress; was a place of refuge for the Huguenots in
1685; manufactures in gloves, mirrors, and tobacco are carried on, and
brewing.

ERLAU (22), an ecclesiastical city of Hungary, on the Erlau, 89 m.
NE. of Pesth; is the seat of an archbishop; ha