ECTHESIS
278
ECUADOR
ture. (c) Lastly, the saints keep before them a moral
ideal of a lofty character, the need of self-forgetfiilness
if they would give themselves to the glory of God anil
the temporal and spiritual welfare of their fellow-men.
The hysterical subject of hj^jnotism, on the contrary,
combines in himself none of these noble qualities.
(G) An attempt has been made to rank ecstasy with somnambulism, with which have also been classed, but with greater reason, the trances of spirit mediums. The case which most approaches, on the surface, the ecstasy of the saints is that of Helen Smith, of Geneva, whom Professor Flournoy studied carefully during the closing years of the nineteenth century. During the crises of spontaneous somnambulism she described her visions in word or in wTiting. At one time she saw the inhabitants of the planet Slars, at another she dwelt among the .\rabs or the Hindus of the fourteenth cen- tury. In 1904 she had crises lasting a quarter of an hour, diu'ing which she painted in oil pictures of Christ and the Madonna, though she was quite unconscious of what she was doing. The ecstasies of the saints were, it was tliouglit, of exactly the sixme nature. There are, however, some striking differences: (a) From the moral viewpoint the visions of the saints produce a remarkable change in their manner of life, and lead them to the exercise of the most difficult vir- tues. Helen experiences nothing of the kind. She is a good woman, that is all. (b) Unlike the saints, she remembers nothing of what she has seen, (c) While the vision lasts, the faculties at play are not the same. In the case of the saints, the activity of the imagina- tion is arrested during the culminating periods, and throughout always holds a subsidiary place, while the intellect undergoes a marvellous expansion. In the case of Helen, the imagination alone was at work, and its objects were of the most commonplace charac- ter. Xot a single elevated thought; simply descrip- tions of houses, animals, or plants — nothing but a mere copy of what we see on earth. Such descriptions serve only as stories to amuse children.
(7) A seventh theory would identify ecstasy with the wild reveries and disordered fancies occasioned by the use of alcohol, ether, chloroform, opium, morphine, or nitrous oxide. In the first place, the physical condi- tion is quite different. Xo one, for instance, would mistake the exalted attitude of an ecstatic for that of a man under the influence of narcotics. Secondly, the mental perceptions are not the same in character. For if the slave of the drugs we have mentioned above does not lose all consciousness, if he still retains any ideas, they consist of extravagant, incoherent images, where- as the ideas and thoughts of the mystic are throughout coherent and elevated. Finally, the victims of alcohol and of opium, on recovering from their debauch, re- main in a state of sottishness. Thought and action are simultaneously lessened; the moral and the social life have equally suffered. The use of narcotics has never enabled a man to lead a purer life or to better himself and others; experience points to the contrary.
These, then, are the false views that have been en- tertained on the question of ecstasy. Nor should it be a matter of surprise that free-thinkers should have ventured on these explanations. It is but the conclu- sion that follows logically from the principles with which they start, i. e., there is no such thing as the supernatural. They must, then, at any cost, seek the causes in natural phenomena. (See Contemplation.)
B. Angt-Jw dr Fiilgineo Visiomim ei Jnstructionujn Liber (re- printed ColoEne. IGOU; AcJa SS.. 4 Jan.; tr. Criikshaxk (Derby, 1872; New York. 1903); Riysbroeck. Op/ra omnia (ColoKne. 16.52); Leone cd.. Obratde Santa Teresa (.Salamanca. 1588); Alvarez de Paz. De inquiailione pads (Lyons. 1617); JOBEPHUB A Spiritu Sancto. Cursus throloffiw mystiew, 6 vols. (Seville. 17' 0-1740); Poulain, Dcs graces d'oraison. 6th ed. (Paris, 1909).
AuCi. PODLAIN.
Ecthesis. See IIeraclius, Emperor; Monothe-
UTE8.
Ecuador, Republic of (La Republica del Ecua-
Doii), an independent state of South America, bound-
ed on the north by Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on
the south by Peru, and on the west by the Pacific
Ocean. The north-western corner of the .State is
crossed by the Equator, hence its name. No part of
America has been so prominent for scientific ex-
plorations, specially geographic and physiographic,
carried out on a large scale in the eighteenth and first
half of the nineteenth century. One, sent out in
1735 by the French Government for the purpose of
measuring the meridian near the Equator, recalls the
names of La Condamine and Bouguer. The other
(1799-1S04) forever associates Alexander von Hum-
boldt with the history of the New World.
Area, Physical Feature.s, etc. — Ecuador is the third smallest of the South American republics. It forms, approximately, an isosceles triangle wedged in between Colombia and Peru. Indenting the south- west coast is the Gulf of Guayaquil within which lies the large Island of Punii. As in the ca.se of other South American republics, the boundaries of Ecuador are ill- defined and subject to mollification by treaty. Its area is variously given as from 80,300 to 152,000 sq. miles, to which must be added the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific, lying about 90°-92° west long., 10 de- grees off the coast, and covering from 2490 to 3000 sq. miles. These islands are about ten in number, only one of which (Isabella or Albemarle) is inhabited by some two hundred people. The eastern half of Ecua- dor is low, wooded, and traversed by many rivers emptying into the Maranon or Upper Amazon; the western is very mountainous, the high Andes chain dividing the two sections. This mountain range runs nearly due south from the southern boundarj- of Colombia to the Peruvian frontier. It has a number of high peaks, all of volcanic origin, among them Chimborazo (20,500 ft."), and many volcanoes. Of the latter, Cotopaxi (19,613 ft.), Tunguragua (16,690 ft.), and Sangai (17,464 ft.) are still active; Antisana (19,335 ft.), Pichincha (15,918 ft.), etc. have been ex- tinct for a century or more; while Altar, Cotocachi, etc. show traces only of activity in ages long past. The Ecuadorian table-land and higher mountain val- leys are temperate, though the temperature is low in the greater altitudes. The year is divided into the dry and the wet season. Under the Equator, how- ever, there is little difference between the seasons. The coast valleys and shores are very hot and the climate generally unhealthful. Ecuador has but one navigable river, the Guayas, which empties into the Gulf of Guayaquil. The other streams of ^\'estern Ecuador are of little importance. The flora is luxuriant except in high altitudes. Both lower slopes of the Andes are densely wooded. On the coast there is an arid zone of limited extent; the larger portion, however, is very fertile as far as the Peruvian boundary at Tumbez. The inland forests in the south are rich in cinchona bark, and extend easterly to a height of nearly 10.000 feet. Then fol- lows a sub- Andean zone for the next 3500 feet, in which cereals thrive in an average temperature of from 53° to 59° Fahr. This is followed by what are called the p6ranws, cold and stormy wastes, treeless, and ex- posed to daily snows, which reach an altitude of 15,000 feet above sea-level, and where the tough puna-grass flourishes. On the eastern slope of the Andes dense forests are found again and the cinnamon tree. Ani- mal life is tropical and is found in proportion to the vegetation. As far as known Ecuador is fairly rich in minerals. It is the only South American state, with the exception of Colombia, where emeralds ha^'e been found in any t|uantity (near the coast at Manta and Esmeraldas); their location, however, is uncertain.
The population is estimated at 1,272,000, of whom about 400,000 are suppo.sed to be Indians. Exact statistics, however, do not exist. Of the 400,000, one-
