Ear-ring: A very ancient form of personal adornment worn by both sexes in Oriental nations. In Anglo-Saxon times ear-rings were worn in Britain, but from the tenth to the fifteenth century were out of fashion. In Elizabethan days they were revived, and have since continued to be used, more or less. In early Victorian days they were common, then they fell out of fashion again; but there has been a revival of them to some extent in recent years.
Edison, Thomas Alva: One of the greatest inventors of our age. His mother was Scotch, his father Dutch; his education was acquired mostly by persistent reading. He early developed a passion for chemistry, and being then a newsboy on the Grand Trunk Railroad, established his first laboratory in an empty car. He became an expert telegraph operator and finally an inventor with an experiment station at Menlo Park and a laboratory at Orange, New Jersey. His inventions are all of practical utility, and number something over 700. Among the most important are the phonograph, electric fire-alarm, megaphone, the kinescope, vitascope and incandescent electric lamp. His latest achievement is the storage battery for the propulsion of street cars and auto-vehicles.
Education: The word implies eliciting the highest ability of the individual; aiming to make the best and not the worst of him, this is the highest duty and ambition of family and State. It is entirely different from memorizing or instruction. Plato said, “Good education is that which gives to the body and the soul all the perfection of which they are capable.” The Greek had no printing and few books, but he knew his notes, sang national noble hymns in inspired chorus; men and women danced gracefully, proudly, in honor of gods and heroes. Eyes were trained by the most perfect forms and colors of art; only beauty was allowed in the presence of a pregnant woman. Every child knew the resounding majesty of Homer, the lyric praise of noble ancestors, the tragedies which told the duty of man, and the destiny and hope of mankind; he heard the philosophy which spoke of the dignity of the soul. The great study of the Roman was oratory and law; the power of swaying the minds and will and lives of others, of advancing the destiny of eternal Rome. Modern education prepares for healthful and happy life, respect of God and man; the greatest good of the greatest number. It teaches self-denial, forethought, duty, loyalty, devotion, temperance, the laws of the seen and the unseen, the possibilities of the race. It develops health, mirth, song, strength, temperance, self-reliance, filial, parental and social obligation. It teaches the practical, finds the most natural and useful sphere of life, and should prepare hand, eye, thought for a life of usefulness.
Evil-eye: A faculty attributed by the superstitious and ignorant to certain persons, the cross-eyed particularly, who inflict injury or bring ill-luck, it is believed, to those they look upon. The sign of the cross with the fingers is supposed to ward it off.
Exhilarating gas: Laughing gas.
•Taken from the 1912 Standard Illustrated Book of Facts.
See also