EARS, Touching the, an ancient eeremonj' in the baptism of catechumens, which consisted in touch- ing theu' ears and laying Ephpkaiha, '^ He opened." This was joined with the imposition of hands and with exorcism, and is supposed to have signified the open- ing of the understanding to receive instruction on the faith. Ambrose derives the custom from our Saviour's example in saying Ep/ipk'it/ia, when he cured the deaf and. dumb. The practice never liecanie general. — Bingham, Or-ig. Eccles. l)k. x, eh. ii, § l.".
EARS OF Corn (ins'^b'^, meWah', so called from being ait o[f, Deut. xxiii, 25; Th^':i, shibbo' kth, from its groirth, Gen. xli, 5 sq. ; Ruth ii, 2 ; Job xxiv, 24 ; Isa. xvii, 5 ; ?';;~i2, Icarmel', prop, a cultivated _^pW, as often ; hence produce or cars therefrom, i. e.grit.% Lev. ii, 14; "xxiii, 14; 2 Kings iv, 42; 3^2S, ahib' , green e-trs, Exod. ix, 31 ; Lev. ii, 14; (7rox"Ci Matt, xii, 1; Mark ii, 23; iv, 28; Luke vi, 1). Tlie remarkable productiveness of the cereals in Egypt has been pro- verbial from tiie days of Joseph (Gen. xli, 47^ to the present time. Jowett states, in his Christirm Research- es, that wlien in Egypt he jilucked up at random a few stalks out of tlie thick grain-fields. " We counted the number of stalks which sprouted from single grains of seed, carefully pulling to pieces each root in "order to see tliat it was one )ilant. 'The first had seven stalks, the next three, then eighteen, then fourteen.
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Each stalk would bear an ear." Even greater num- bers than these are mentioned by Dr. Shaw, and still more by Pliny. It also often happens that one of the stalks will bear two ears, while each of these ears will shoot out into a number of lesser ears, affording a most plentiful increase. See Cokn.
Ears of Egyptian Corn: rr, AVheat (Triticum Sativum); b. Millet (Hulcus Surghmu).
Ear, E.VKiNG, an old English agricultural term for ploughing, occurs in Gen. xlv, G; Exod. xxxiv, 21; 1 Sam. viii, 12, as a translation of the term U.''~n (charish' , ploughing, as it is elsewhere rendered). (See Criticn Biblica, iii, 210.) The same now obsolete word is used bj' our translators in Deut. xxi, 4 ; Isa. xxx, 24, to represent the Heb. word ^2"' (nbad', to till, as it is often elsewhere i-endered). See Aoi:iciii-ture ; Egypt. So Shakspeare says "to ear the land that has some hopes to grow" {Richnrd II, iii, 2). It is ety- niologically connected with the Latin aro. to j)lough. It is directly derived from the Anglo-Saxon erian, "to plough," and is radically the same with harrow. What we call arable land was originally written ear- able land. The root ar is one of wide use in all the Indo-European languages (see Miiller, Science oj" Lan- guage, p. 239); See Plough.
Eardley, sir Culling, one of the founders of the Evangelic il Alliance, was born in Hatfield in 1805. He was a son of sir Culling Smith, baronet, succeeded to the baronetcy in 1S29, and in 1847 assumed liy roy- al license his maternal name of Eardley, his mother having been a daughter of the last lord Eardley. He was educated at Oxford, but did not graduate, having scruples as to subscribing the oaths administered in taking the degree of A.B. He represented Pontcfract in one short Parliament previous to the Reform Bill, and in 184G was an' unsuccessful candidate for Edin- liurgh in op))osition to lord ^Licaulay, sir Culling l)as- ing his claim chiefly on his opposition to the Maynooth
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grant. Sir Culling greatly distinguished himself for the active part he took in the work of the Evangelical Alliance and other religious associations, and the cause of religious toleration, in particular, found in liini an indefatigable and most active champion. — Aim. Amer. Cyclapcedia for 1863, p. 358.
Early, WiLLi.VM, a INIethodist Episcopal minister, was born in New Jersej^ Oct. 17, 1770; was converted at aliout nineteen ; entered the itinerancv in 1791 ; was superannuated in 1821, and died in June of the same year, having preached for thirtj' years. His first two years in tlie ministrj^ were spent as missionary to New Erunswick, where he endured much hardship in zeal- oush' laboring for liis blaster's cause. His after min- istry in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and INIaryland was verj' useful to the Church.— .1/m. of Conferences, i, 380.
Early English, a title often given to the first pointed or Gothic style of architecture in England. It is also called the Lancet Style, and also (in the no- menclature of the Ecclesiological Socictj') tlie First Pointed Style. " It succeeded tiie Norman towards the end of the 12th centurj^ and gradually merged into the Decorated at the end of the 13th. It first partook of tiie heaviness of the Norman, but soon man- ifested its own beautiful and peculiar characteristics. The arches are usually equilateral and lancet-shaped ; the doorways are often divided into two by a single shaft or small pier; the windows are long and narrow, and, when gathered into a group, are frequently sur- mounted by a large arch, which springs ft'om the ex- treme moulding of the window on each side. The space between this arch and the tops of the windows is often pierced with circles, or with trefoils or quatre- foils, which constituted the earliest form of tracer}'. Each window, however, is generally destitute of any tracery in itself" (Chambers, s. v.) The mouldings, says Parker, in general consist of alternate rounds and deeply-cut hollows, with a small admixture of fillets, producing a strong effect of light and shadow. " Circu- lar windows were more used in England during the prev- alence of this style than in either the decorated or per- pendicular, and fine specimens remain at York and Lincoln cathedrals, and at Beverley Minster. Groined ceilings are very common in this style ; in general they have onlj' cross springers and di- agonal ribs, with sometimes longitudinal and diagonal ribs at the apex of the vaults, and good bosses of foliage at the intersections. The 75//- Inrs iisually consist of small shafts arranged round a larger circular pier, but others of different kinds arc to be found, and a plain octagonal or circular pil- lar is common in country churches. The capitals consist of plain mould- ings, or arc enriched with foliage and sculpture characteristic of the style. Tlie most preva- lent base has a very close resemblance to the Attic base of the ancients, though tlie proportions are different, and the lower torus is worked with a con- sideral)h' larger projection. The buttresses are often very bold and prominent, and are frcquentlv carried lip to the top of tlie building with but little diminu- tion, and terminate in acuteh'-pointed pediments,