ERICSSON, JOHN, engineer, a native of Sweden, but whose inventions have been brought before the scientific world in England and America, was born iu the province of Vermeland in 1803. In 1814, by the friendship of Count Platen, who observed his mechanical tastes, ho obtained a cadetship in a corps of Engineers. He subse quently entered the regular army as an ensign, and at length reached the rauk of' lieutenant. In 182ti he visited England in order to bring into notice a new kind of engine which he bad invented, and which he proposed to work without steam, by the condensation of' flame. The project failed from the impossibility of procuring suitable fuel for the engiue. He competed for the prize which was offered by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company in 1829, for the produc tion of the best locomotive, and presented an engine which went at the rate of fifty miles an hour. Ericsson's subsequent career lay chiefly in America. In the Great Industrial Exhibition of London in 1851, several instruments for the measurements of distances at sea, for measuring fluids under pressure, and other similar purposes, appeared in the American department under Mr. Eriesson's name, and were described by him in a small work which he issued at the time. His name is chiefly known in connection with a project for a caloric engine, which was to supersede steam, an object which, if accom plished would, by removing the necessity of carrying large cargoes of fuel, have effected a great commercial change in the intercourse between distant parts of the globe. As the principle did not obtain the sanction of the scientific) men to whom the British government referred its consideration, Mr. Ericsson tried it in America, and obtained sufficient cooperation to enable him to launch a vessel named after himself, and measuring 2000 tons. This vessel made a trial trip, in which she sailed at the rate of twelve miles an hour, but on her return she was struck by a squall, filled, and foundered close to the city of Jersey. The Ericsson was subsequently raised, and the caloric engine was replaced by a steam engine, which possessed some improvements invented by Mr. Ericsson. Mr. Ericsson was a member
of numerous scientific) societies and a knight of the Swedish order of Vasa, He died on the 2nd of November 1853.
ERl'GENA, JOANNES SCOTUS, a native of Ireland, whence his nppellatiou of Erigena is derived, that of Scotus being synouymous with it., as the Irish were still called in foreign countries Scots in those times, flourished about the middle of the 9th ceutury, and was a celebrated scholar of that age. lie resided chiefly is France, at tho court of Charles the Bald, who seems to have been very partial to him. His writings on theological matters were considered as heterodox, and his treatise ou the Eucharist was condemned to be burnt by the °smiled of Rome, in 1059. (BBaesoer.] His treatise on predestination is found in the ' Vindicias Prtedestinationis et Gratin, 2 vols. 4to, 1650. In his work 'Dialogue de Division° Nature' he displays a wonderful information for the times be lived in, and an intimate acquaintance with the Greek language. He gives large extracts from the Greek fathers, and also quotes Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Pliny, and other ancient philosophers; and he gives the opinions of P3tbagoms and Eratosthenes on some astronomical topics. In another part he Inserts a very elaborate discussion on arithmetic. Hallam says that "it admits of no doubt that John Scotus wag, in a literary and philoso phicel sense, the most remarkable man of the dark ages: no one else had his boldness, his subtlety in threading the labyrinths of meta physical speculations, which in the west of Europe had been utterly disregarded." ('Middlo Ages,' c. ix., pt. i., note 2.) Erigena also translated from the Greek certain theological works attributed to Dionysius Areopagita. To the writings and translations of Erigena is attributed by some the introduction of the later Platonism of tho Alexandrian school into the theology and metaphysics of Europe. Erigena is believed to have died in France about b75. Ho must not be confounded with Joanues Daus Scotus, who lived in the 13th century. [DONS Senna.]