EOTVOS, Et'vesh, Joseph, BARON VON, Hungarian statesman and author: b. Ofen, 13 Sept. 1813; d. Pesth, 3 Feb. 1871. He was edu cated by private tutors, especially the well known Hungarian patriot and liberal Pruzsinsky, who gained a powerful mental influence over him and was primarily responsible for the lib eral ideas and ideals which Eotvos displayed later in life. He completed his studies in phi losophy and law at the Univesity of Pesth in 1831. Even before leaving the university he produced three plays—
'Hiza sulOk) and (BosziO —the last a tragedy, all of which were well received. From 1832-37 he traveled extensively in Europe and occupied a number of minor governmental offices. After 1838 he devoted himself exclusively to literature and politics, joining the Young-Hungarian Re form party. In the same year he published an important work on the reform of prisons (Pesth 1838) ; he became a friend of Kossuth and dis tinguished himself as a journalist and as a speaker in the Diet. A collection of his early political writings was published in Leipzig in 1846. His literary work of this period resulted in a succession of novels giving vivid pictures of Hungarian life during his own times and in more remote epochs: 'The Carthusian> (Pesth 1838-41) ; iA Falu Jegyziij (Pesth 1844-46; translated into English as 'The Village Notary> by 0. Wenckstern, New York 1850) ; 'Hungary in 1514> (3 vols., Pesth 1847-48). After the March revolution of 1848 he became Minister of Public Instruction under Batthany, but the September revolution of the same year made him lose hope in the cause of liberalism in his country and he retired to Munich, remaining in voluntary exile for three years. During this period he published several works, among which was 'The Influence of the Ruling Ideas of the 19th Century on the State' (2 vols., Pesth 1851 54), which is considered his most important work. About the middle of 1851 he again re turned to Hungary and was made vice-president of the Hungarian Academy in 1856 and presi dent in 1866. After his return he was a staunch supporter of Deal( (q.v.) and of his efforts to arrange the famous Austro-Hungarian Compo sition (Ausgleich) of 1867. In that year he again became Minister of Public Instruction in the Andrassy cabinet. From then on until his death all his energies were devoted with con siderable success to the improvement and lib eralizir;on of the Hungarian school system. In 1879 a bronze statue by Huszar was erected in his memory at Pesth. A collection of his writings was published in Pesth in 14 volumes (1870), and still another in 17 volumes (1891). His political speeches were collected in two volumes in 1875 and 1886. Consult Berzeviczy, A. v.,
(in Ungarische Rundschau, Vol. III, p. 78, Munich 1914) ; Ferenczi, Z.,
EaTVI5S, Roland, Hungarian scientist and statesman : b. Budapest, 27 july 1848. He is a son of Joseph Eiitviis (q.v.). He studied at Konigsberg and Heidelberg, receiving an ap pointment as lecturer at Budapest 1871 and as professor of experimental physics there 1875, being made a member of the Hungarian Acad emy of Sciences 1873, and becoming its presi dent in 1893. Much of his attention has been given to the problems of gravitation and capil lary attraction. He was made a life member of the Hungarian House of Magnates and was Minster of Public Worship and Education 1894-95.
EOZOIC (E-6-zenc) ERA (dawn of life), one of the early names applied to the Geologic Pre-Cambrian or Algonkian period, during which life first appeared on the earth. The eozoic rocks, though often showing traces of organic origin, have in general been greatly metamorphosed and contain few, if any, fossils. Stratigraphically they are separated from the Archaean (or Azoic) rocks below and the Cam brian (or earliest Pabeozoic) rocks above by =conformities. See ALGONKIAN SYSTEM ; GE OLOGY; HURONIAN SERIES; KEWEENAWAN SERIES.
EOZOON, E-6-zeon. Sir J. W. Dawson (q.v.) in 1864 described certain curious aggre gates of calcite and serpentine in the Lauren tian limestone of the lower Saint Lawrence Valley as the remains of a foraminiferan which he called Eozoon Canadense. The so-called fossil was thought to represent the earliest known form of life on the globe. The evi dence of organic origin is, however, not con clusive. Similar forms have been found in Bavaria. Moebius, who investigated Eozoiin thoroughly, concluded that the serpentine in the calcite had infiltrated along a very regular system of fine fissure and most geologists now believe that Eozoon is of inorganic origin. An extensive literature has sprung up as a result of this discussion. A list of most of the im portant papers, almost all published in scienti fic journals of Europe and this country may be found in the bibliography of Sir J. W. Dawson, attached to a memoir of his life by F. D. Adams and published in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America (Vol. II, New York 1899). Consult Dawson, Sir J. W., (The Dawn of Life> (London 1875); (Review of the Evidence for the Animal Nature of Eozoon Canadense> (in McGill University Paper, De partment of Geology, Nos. 1-2, Montreal 1896) ; Hauer, M., (Das Eozokin Canadense> (2 vols., Leipzig 1885).