elephantoid arms dependent on a late stage of cancerous breast. Elevation of the limb and elastic pressure should always be tried, but often amputation has to be resorted to in the end. The disease is totally different from the so-called elephantiasis graecorum or true leprosy, for which see Leprosy.
ELEPHANT’S-FOOT, the popular name for the plant Testudinaria
elephantipes, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. It takes
its name from the large tuberous stem, which grows very slowly
but often reaches a considerable size, e.g. more than 3 yds.
in circumference with a height of nearly 3 ft. above ground.
It is rich in starch, whence the name Hottentot bread, and is
covered on the outside with thick, hard, corky plates. It develops
slender, leafy, climbing shoots which die down each season. It
is a member of the monocotyledonous order Dioscoreaceae,
climbing plants with slender herbaceous or shrubby shoots,
to which belong the yam and the British black bryony, Tamus
communis.
ELETS, a town of Russia, in the government of Orel, 122 m.
by rail E.S.E. of Orel, on the railway which connects Riga with
Tsaritsyn on the lower Volga. Pop. (1883) 36,680; (1900)
38,239. Owing to its advantageous position Elets has grown
rapidly. Its merchants buy large quantities of grain, and
numerous flour-mills, many of them driven by steam, prepare
flour, which is forwarded to Moscow and Riga. The trade in
cattle is very important. Elets has the first grain elevator
erected in Russia (1887), a railway school, and important
tanneries, foundries for cast iron and copper, tallow-melting
works, limekilns and brickworks. The cathedral and two
monasteries contain venerated historic relics.
Elets is first mentioned in 1147, when it was a fort of Ryazan. The Turkish Polovtsi or Kumans attacked it in the 12th century, and the Mongols destroyed it during their first invasion (1239) and again in 1305. The Tatars plundered it in 1415 and 1450; and it seems to have been completely abandoned in the latter half of the 15th century. Its development dates from the second half of the 17th century, when it became a centre for the trade with south Russia.
ELEUSIS, an ancient Greek city in Attica about 14 m. N.W.
of Athens, occupying the eastern part of a rocky ridge close to
the shore opposite the island of Salamis. Its fame is due chiefly
to its Mysteries, for which see Mystery. Tradition carries
back the origin of Eleusis to the highest antiquity. In the earlier
period of its history it seems to have been an independent rival
of Athens, and it was afterwards reckoned one of the twelve
Old Attic cities. A considerable portion of its small territory
was occupied by the plains of Thria, noticeable for their fertility,
though the hopes of the husbandmen were not unfrequently
disappointed by the blight of the south wind. To the west was
the Πεδίον Ῥάριον or Rharian Plain, where Demeter is said to
have sown the first seeds of corn; and on its confines was the
field called Orgas, planted with trees consecrated to Demeter
and Persephone. The sacred buildings were destroyed by Alaric
in A.D. 396, and it is not certain whether they were restored
before the extinction of all pagan rites by Theodosius. The
present village on the site is of Albanian origin; it is called
Lefsina or Lepsina, officially Ἐλευσίς.
The Site.—Systematic excavations, begun in 1882 by D. Philios for the Greek Archaeological Society, have laid bare the whole of the sacred precinct. It is now possible to trace its boundaries as extended at various periods, and also many successive stages in the history of the Telesterion, or Hall of Initiation. These complete excavations have shown the earlier and partial excavations to have been in some respects deceptive.
In front of the main entrance of the precinct is a large paved area, with the foundations of a temple in it, usually identified as that of Artemis Propylaea; in their present form both area and temple date from Roman times; and on each side of the Great Propylaea are the foundations of a Roman triumphal arch. Just below the steps of the Propylaea, on the left as one enters, there has been discovered, at a lower level than the
