Page images
PDF
EPUB

bubble, filled with water, and having fome opaque fubftance in the centre of it; and he fays we shall find, that we fhall not be able to see the fun through it, unless at a certain distance from a place oppofite to the centre of it; but as foon as we do perceive the light, the image of the fun will immediately appear the brighteft, and coloured red, for the fame reafon as in the rainbow. Thefe halos, he fays, often appear about the moon; but the colours are fo weak as to appear only white. Such white coronas he had alfo feen about the fun, when the space within them appeared fcarce darker than that without. This he fuppofes to happen when there are but few of thofe globules in the atmosphere; for the more plentiful they are, the more lively the colours of the halo appear; at the fame time alfo the area within the corona will be the darker. The apparent diameter of the corona, which is generally about 45°, depends upon the fize of the dark kernel; for the larger it is with refpect to the whole globule, the larger will be the dark cone behind it. The globules that form thefe halos, Mr Huygens fuppofes to have confifted of foft fnow, and to have been rounded by continual agitation in the air, and thawed on their outfides by the heat of the fun. To make the diameter of the halo 45, he demonftrates that the femidiameter of the globule must be to the femidiameter of the kernel of snow very nearly as rooo to 480, and that to make a corona of 100° it must be as 1000 to 680.

fubject, by the appearances of s funs at Warsaw, in 1658; after which, he fays, he hit upon the true caufe of halos and mock funs. If we can conceive any kind of bodies in the atmosphere, which, according to the known laws of optics, will, either by reflection or refraction, produce the appearance in question, when nothing else can be found that will do it, we muft acquiefce in the hypothefis, and fuppofe fuch bodies to exift, even though we cannot give a fatisfactory account of their generation. Two fuch bodies are affumed by M. Huygens; one of them a round ball, opaque in 'the centre, but covered with a tranfparent fhell; and the other is a cylinder, of a fimilar compofition. By the help of the former he endeavours to account for halos, and by the latter for thofe appearances which are called mock funs. Those bodies which M. Huygens requires, in order to explain these phenomena, are not, however, a mere affumption: for fome fuch, though of a larger fize than his purpose requires, have been actually found, confifting of fnow within and ice without. They are particularly mentioned by Defcartes. The balls with the opaque kernel, which he supposed to have been the caufe of them, he imagines not to exceed the fize of a turnip-feed; but, in order to illuftrate this hypothefis, he gives la figure of one, of a larger fize, in ABCDEF, Pl. 173, Fig. 3. representing the kernel of fnow in the middle of it. If the rays of light, coming from GH, fall upon the fide AD, it is manifeft they will be fo refracted at A and D, as to bend inwards; and many of them will strike upon the kernel EF. Others, however, as GA and HD, will only touch the fides of the kernel; and being again refracted -at B and C, will emerge in the lines BK, CK, croffing each other in the point K, whofe nearest diftance from the globule is fomewhat lefs than its apparent diameter. If, therefore, BK and CK be produced towards M and L, Fig. 4. it is evident that no light can reach the eye placed within the angle LKM, but may fall upon it when placed out of that angle, or rather the cone reprefented by it. For the fame reason, every other of these globules will have a fhadow behind it, in which the light of the fun will not be perceived. If the eye be at N, and that be conceived to be the vertex of a cone, the fides of which NR, NQ, are parallel to the fides of the former cone KL, KM, it is evident that none of the globules within the cone QNR can send any rays of the fun to the eye at N. But any other globule out of this cone, as X, may fend those rays, which are more refracted than XZ, to the eye; fo that this will appear enlightened, while thofe within the cone will appear obfcure. It is evident from this, that a certain area, or space, quite round the fun, muft appear dark; and that the space next to this area will appear luminous, and more fo in those parts that are neareft to the obfcure area; because, he fays, it may eafily be demon. ftrated, that thofe globules which are neareft to the cone QNR exhibit the largeft image of the fun. It is plain, alfo, that a corona ought to be produced in the fame manner, whatever be the fun's altitude, because of the fpherical figure of the globules. To verify this hypothefis, M. Huygen advises us to expose to the fun a thin glafs

(8.) HALOS, MARRIOTTE'S THEORY OF. M. Marriotte accounts for the formation of the fmall coronas by the transmission of light through aqueous vapours, where it fuffers two refractions without any intermediate reflection. He shows that light which comes to the eye, after being refracted in this manner, will be chiefly that which falls upon the drop nearly perpendicular; because more rays fall upon any given quantity of surface in that fituation, fewer of them are reflected with fmall degrees of obliquity, and they are not fo much scattered after refraction. The red will always be outermoft in these halos, as confifting of rays which fuffer the least refraction. And whereas he bad feen, when the clouds were driven briskly by the wind, halos round the moon, varying frequently in their diameter, being fometimes of 2°, fometimes of 3°, and fometimes of 4°; fometimes alfo coloured, fometimes only white, and fometimes difappearing entirely; he concluded that all these variations arose from the different thickness of the clouds, through which sometimes more and fometimes lefs light was tranfmitted. He fuppofed, also, that the light which formed them might fometimes be reflected, and at other times refracted. As to those coronas which confift of two orders of colours, he imagined that they were produced by small pieces of fnow, which when they begin to diffolve, form figures which are a little convex towards their extremities. Sometimes, alfo, the fnow will be melted in different fhapes; and in this cafe, the colours of several halos will be intermixed and confufed; and fuch, he fays, he had fometimes obferved round the fun, M. Marriotte then proceeds to explain the larger halos, viz. thofe that are about 45° in diameter, and for this purpose he has recourfe to equiangu

lar

dar prifms of ice, in a certain position with refpect to the fun; and he takes pains to trace the progrefs of the rays of light for this purpose: but this hy. pothefis is very improbable. In fome cafes he thought that these large coronas were caufed by hail-ftones, of a pyramidal figure; becaufe after two or three of them had been seen about the fun, there fell the fame day feveral fuch pyramidal hail. ftones. M. Marriotte explains parhelia by the help of the fame fuppofitions. See PARHELION.

(9.) HALOS, MUSCHENBROECK'S THEORY OF. M. Mufchenbroeck concludes his account of coronas with obferving, that fome density of vapour, or fome thickness of the plates of ice, divides the light in its tranfmiffion through the small globules of water, or their interstices, into its feparate colours: but what that denfity was, or what was the fize of the particles which compofed the va pour, he could not determine.

(10.) HALOS, SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S THEORY OF. This great philofopher confidered the larger and lefs variable appearances of this kind as produced according to the common laws of refraction, but that the lefs and more variable appearances depend upon the fame caufe with the colours of thin plates. He concludes his explication of the rainbow with the following obfervation on halos and parhelia. "The light which comes through drops of rain by two refractions, without any reflexion, ought to appear the ftrongeft at the diftance of about 26° from the fun, and to decay gradually both ways as the distance from him increafes. And the fame is to be underftood of light tranfmitted through spherical hail-ftones: and if the hail be a little flatted, as it often is, the tranfmitted light may be fo ftrong, at a little lefs distance than that of 26° as to form a halo about the fun or moon; which halo, as often as the hail-ftones are duly figured, may be coloured, and then it must be red within by the leaft refrangible rays, and blue without by the moft refrangible ones; efpecially if the hail-ftones have opaque globules of fnow in their centres to intercept the light within the halo, as Mr Huygens has obferved, and made the infide of it more diftinctly defined than it would otherwife be. For fuch hail-ftones, though fpherical, by terminating the light by the fnow, may make a halo red within, and colourless without, and darker within the red than without, as halos ufe to be. For of thofe rays which país clofe by the fnow, the red-making ones will be the leaft refracted, and fo come to the eye in the ftraighteft lines." Some farther thoughts of Sir Ifaac Newton's on halos are fubjoined to the account of his experiments on the colours of thick plates of glafs, which he conceived to be fimilar to thofe which are exhibited by thin ones:-"As light reflected by a lens quick-filvered on the back fide makes the rings of the colours above defcribed, fo it ought to make the like rings in paffing through a drop of water. At the first reflexion of the rays within the drop, fome colours ought to be tranfmitted, as in the cafe of a lens, and others to be reflected back to the eye. For instance, if the diameter of a small drop or globule of water be about the goodth part of an inch, fo that a red-making ray, in paffing through the middle of this globule, has 250 fits of eafy

tranfmiffion within the globule, and all the redmaking rays, which are at a certain distance from this middle ray round about it, have 249 fits within the globule, and all the like rays at a certain farther diftance round about it have 248 fits, and all thofe at a certain farther distance 247 fits, and fo on, thefe concentric circles of rays, after their tranfmiffion, falling on a white paper, will make concentric rings of red upon the paper; fuppo fing the light which passes through one fingle glebule ftrong enough to be fenfible, and in like manner the rays of other colours will make rings of other colours. Suppose now that in a fair day the fun fhould fhine through a thin cloud of fuch globules of water or hail, and that the globules are all of the fame fize, the fun feen through this cloud ought to appear furrounded with the like concentric rings of colours, and the diameter of the first ring of red fhould be 74 degrees, that of the fecond 10, that of the third 12° 33', and according as the globules of water are bigger or lefs, the ring fhould be lefs or bigger." This curious theory our author informs us was confirmed by an obfervation which he made in 1692. He faw by reflexion, in a vessel of stagnating water, 3 halos, crowns, or rings of colours about the fun, like 3 little rainbows concentric to his body. The colours of the firft, or innermoft, were blue next the fun, red without, and white in the middle, between the blue and red; thofe of the 2d crown were purple and blue within, and pale red without, and green in the middle; and those of the third were pale blue within, and pale red without. Thefe crowns inclofed one another immediately, fo that their colours proceeded in this continual order from the fun outward; blue, white, red; purple, blue, green, pale, yellow, and red; pale blue, pale red. The diameter of the fecond crown, measured from the middle of the yellow and red on one fide of the fun, to the middle of the fame colour on the other fide, was of degrees, or thereabouts, The diameters of the first and third he had not time to measure; but that of the first seemed to be about 5o or 6o, and that of the 3d about 12°. The like crowns appear fometimes about the moon: for in the be ginning of the year 1664, on Feb. 19th at night, he faw two fuch crowns about her. The diameter of the firft, or innermoft, was about 3°, and that of the ad about 54°. Next about the moon was a circle of white; and next about that the inner crown, which was of a bluish green within, next the white, and of a yellow and red without; and next about these colours were blue and green on the infide of the outer crown, and red on the out fide of it. At the fame time there appeared a halo at the diftance of about 22° 35′ from the centre of the moon. It was elliptical; and its long diameter was perpendicular to the horizon, verging below fartheft from the moon. He was told that the moon has fometimes 3 or more concentric crowns or colours encompaffing one another next about her body. The more equal the globules of water or ice are to one another, the more crowns of colours will appear, and the colours will be the more lively. The halo, at the distance of 22 degrees from the moon, is of another fort. By its being oval, and more remote from the moon

E 2

below

(2.) HALT. n. S. [from the verb.] 1. The of limping; the manner of limping. 2. [Alte, F A ftop in a march. The heav'nly bands

below than above, he concludes that it was made crippled.-Bring in hither the poor, the maim by refraction in some kind of hail or snow float- the balt, and the blind. Luke. ing in the air in an horizontal posture, the refracting angle being about 50 or 60 degrees. Dr Smith, however, makes it fufficiently evident, that the reason why this halo appeared oval, and more remote from the moon towards the horizon, is a deception of fight, and the fame with that which 'makes the moon appear larger in the horizon.

(11.) HALOS, WEIDLER'S THEORY OF. Mr Weidler, in his Commentary on parbelia, published at Wirtemburg in 1733, obferves that it is very improbable that fuch globules as Mr Huygens's hypothefis requires, (7.) with nuclei of fuch a precife proportion, fhould exift; and if there were fuch bodies, he thinks they would be too small to produce the effects.ascribed to them. Besides, he obferves 'that appearances exactly fimilar to halos are not uncommon, where fluid vapours alone are concerned; as when a candle is placed behind the fteam of boiling water in frofty weather, or in the midst of the vapour iffuing copioufly from a bath, or behind a receiver when the air is To much rarefied as to be incapable of fupporting the water it contains. The rays of the fun twice reflected and twice refracted within small drops of water are fufficient, he says, without any opaque kernel, to produce all the appearances of the halos that have the red light towards the fun, as may be proved by experiment. That the diameter of the halos is generally half of that of the rainbow, he accounts for as Gaffendi did before him. See 5.

HALORAGUS, in botany; a genus of the tetragynia order, belonging to the octandria clafs of plants. The calyx is quadrifid above; there are 4 petals; a dry plum, and a quadrilocular nut. HALPACH, a river of Germany, in Austria. HALPO, a town of Mexico, in Tabasco. HALS, a town and county of Bavaria. HALSE, a town of Norway, in Drontheim. *HALSENING. adj. [hals, German; hafs, Scottish, the neck.] Sounding harfhly; inharmo. nous in the throat or tongue. Not in ufe.-This ill halfening horny name hath, as Cornuto in Italy, opened a gap to the fcoffs of many. Carew.

* HALSER. n. f. {from bals, neck, and feel, a rope. It is now in marine pronunciation corrupted to hawfer.] A rope lefs than a cable.-

A breechen mast then in the hollow base They hoifted, and with well-wreath'd halfers hoife

Their white fails.

Chapman.

No balfers need to bind thefe veffels here, Nor bearded anchors, for no ftorms they fear. Dryden. HALSTEAD, a town of Effex, feated on a rifing ground, on the Coln, 47 miles NE. of London. It has an old church, the fteeple of which was once burnt down by lightning, but rebuilt at the expense of Roberts Fiske, Efq. The town confifts of about 600 honfes. The inhabitants are about 4000, and manufacture fays, bays, calimancoes, &c. It has a free fchool for 40 boys, and a very antique Bridewell. Its market on Friday is noted for corn. Lon. o. 45. E. Lat. 51. 59. N.

(1.) * HALT. adj. [from the verb.] Lame;

[ocr errors]

Milt

Down from a sky of jafper lighted now
In Paradife, and on a hill made balt.
Scouts each coaft light armed fcour
Each quarter to defcry the diftant foe,
Where lodg'd, or whither filed, or if for figh
In motion, or in halt.
Milt
-Without any halt they marched between t
two armies. Clarendon.-He might have made
halt 'till his foot and artillery came, up to hi
Clarendon.

To HALT. v..n. [healt, Sax. lame; Healt to limp.] 1. To limp; to be lame.

And will the yet debase her eyes
On me, that halt and am mif-shapen thus?
Thus inborn broils the factions would engag
Or wars of exil'd heirs, or foreign rage,
'Till halting vengeance overtook our age. Dry
Spenfer himself affects the obfolete,
And Sidney's verse halts ill on Roman feet,

Po

2. To ftop in a march.-I was forced to balt
this perpendicular march. Addifon. 3. To he
tate; to ftand dubious.-How long balt ye betwe
two opinions? 1 Kings. 4. To fail; to faulter.
Here's a paper written in his hand;

A halting fonnet of his own pure brain,
Fashion'd to Beatrice.

Sh

-All my familiars watched for my balting, fa ing, peradventure he will be enticed, and we th prevail against him. Jeremiah.

(1.) * HALTER. n. f. [from balt.] He w limps.

(2.) HALTER. n. f. [healfire, Sax. from ba the neck.] 1. A rope to hang malefactors.

He's fied, my lord, and all his pow'rs do yiel And humbly thus, with balters on their nec Expect your highnefs' doom of life or death. Sh

They were to die by the fword if they fto upon defence, and by the halter if they yielde wherefore they made choice to die rather as i diers than as dogs. Hayward.

Were I a drowly judge, whofe dismal not
Difgorgeth halter as a juggler's throat
Doth ribbands.
Clevela
He gets renown, who, to the halter near,
But narrowly escapes, and buys it dear. Dr
2. A cord; a ftrong ftring.-

Whom neither halter binds nor burth
charge.

Sane

(3.) HALTER, in antiquity, l'axrng, Gt. bali Latin.] A peculiar kind of difcus. See Disc, ; and HALTERISTA.

(4.) HALTER, in the manege, a head-ftall fo horfe, of Hungary leather, mounted with and fometimes two ftraps, with a fecond thro band if the horfe is apt to unhalter himself.

*To HALTER. v. a. [from the noun.] bind with a cord; to catch in a noofe.-He mi have employed his time in the frivolous delight catching moles and haltering frogs. Atterbury

HALT

HALTER CAST, is an excoriation of the pastern, occafioned by the halter's being entangled about a horfe's foot, upon his endeavouring to rub his neck with his binder feet. For the cure, anoint the place morning and evening, with equal quan. tities of linfeed oil and brandy, well mixed.

HALTEREN, a town of Germany, in the bifhopric of Munster, on the Lippe; 20 miles SW. of Munster. Lon. 7. 27. E. Lat. 51. 40. N. HALTERISTÆ, in antiquity, a kind of players at difcus. Some take the difcus to have been a leaden weight or ball, which the vaulters bore in their hands, to fecure and keep themselves the more steady in their leaping. Others fay the HALTER was a lump of lead or stone, with a hole, or handle fixed to it, by which it might be carried. Hier. Mercurialis, in his treatife De arte gymnaftiça, l. ii. c. 12. diftinguishes two kinds of halterifte; for though there was but one halter, there were two ways of applying it. The one was to throw or pitch it; the other only to hold it out at arm's end, and in this pofture to give themfelves divers motions, fwinging the hand back. wards and forwards, according to the engraven figures thereof given us by Mercurialis. The halter was of a cylindrical figure, smaller in the middle, where it was held, by one diameter, than at the two ends. It was above a foot long, and there was one for each hand : it was either of iron, ftone, or lead. Galen, De tuend. valetud. lib. i. v. and vi. speaks of this exercife, and shows of what ufe it is in purging the body of peccant humours, making it equivalent both to purgation and phlebotomy.

(1.) HALTON, or HAULTON, [i. e. High Town,] a town of Chefhire, 13 miles NE. of Chefter, and 186 NW. of London. It ftands on a bill, where a castle was built A. D. 1071, and is a member of the duchy of Lancafter; which maintains a large jurifdiction in the county round it, by the name of Halton-Fee, or the honour of Halton, having a court of record, &c. within itfelf. It is feated near a canal, by which it has communication with the rivers Merfey, Dee, Ribble, Oufe, Trent, Darwent, Severn, Humber, Thames, Avon, &c. which navigation, including its windings, extends above 500 miles, in the counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, York, Lancafter, Westmoreland, Stafford, Warwick, Leicefter, Oxford, Worcester, &c.

(2-9.) HALTON, the name of 8 English vil lages; viz. 1. in Lancash. 2. in Lincolnsh. 3. in Northumberland: 4. in Salop; 5. and 6. in Somerfetsh. 7. E. and 8. W. in Yorkshire. HALTWEZEL, or a well built town of HALTWHISTLE, England, in Northumberland, on the S. Tyne, 37 miles W. of Newcaftle, and 314 NW. of London. It was plun dered by the Scots, in the reign of Q. Elizabeth. Lon. 2. 17. E. Lat. 55. 2. N. HALVA, or CHAULAN, a town of Fez, on HALVAN, the Cebu, 8 miles from Fez. Lon. 5. 5. W. Lat. 33. 32. N.

*To HALVE. y. a. [from half, halves.] To divide into two parts.

[ocr errors]

*HALVES. interj. [from half, balves being the plural. An expreflion by which any one lays claim to an equal share.—

Have you not feen how the divided dam Runs to the fummons of her hungry lamb? But when the twin cries balves, the quits the first. Cleveland, HALUNTINI, the ancient inhabitants of Aluntium. See ALUNTIUM.

HALYMOTE, n.. properly fignifies an bol or ecclefiaftical court. See HALMOTE. There is a halymote held in London, before the Lord Mayor and sheriffs, for regulating the bakers. It was anciently held on Sunday before St Thomas's day, and hence called the Haly Mote or Holy Court.

HALYS, in ancient geography, the nobleft ri ver of the Hither Afia, through which it has a long courfe, was the boundary of Crofus's kingdom on the eaft.. Running down from the foot of mount Taurus, through Catalonia and Cappadocia, it divided almoft the whole of the Lower Asia, from the sea of Cyprus down to the Euxine, according to Herodotus; who seems to extend its course too far. According to Strabo, who was a Cappadocian, it had its springs in Great Cappadocia. It feparated Paphlagonia from Cappado, cia; and received its name aro Tou are, from falt, because its waters were of a falt tafte, from the foil over which they flowed. It is famous for the defeat of Crafus king of Lydia, who was mifled by this ambiguous refponse of the oracle; Χρισος Αλυν διαβας μεγάλην αρχήν διαλύσει; i. ε. Ι Crafus paffes over the Halys he shall destroy a great empire. That empire proved to be his own. See CROESUS and LYDIA, N° 2.

HALYWERCFOLK, in old writers, perfons who enjoyed land, by the pious service of repairing fome church, or defending a fepulchre. It al fo fignified perfons in the diocefe of Durham, who held their lands to defend the corpfe of St Cuthbert, and thence claimed the privilege of not being forced to go out of the bishopric.

(1.) HAM, [, Heb. i. e. crafty. the youngest fon of Noah, and father of Cuth, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan; each of whom poffeffed the countries peopled by them. Ham, it is believed, had all Africa for his inheritance, and peopled it with his pofterity. He himself, it is thought, dwelt in Egypt, but M. Bafnage is of opinion, that neither Ham nor Mizraim ever were in Egypt, but that their pofterity fettled in this country, and called it by the name of their anceftor. He also doubts of his having been worshipped as a god, by the name of Jupiter Hammon. Be that as it may, Africa is called the Land of Ham, in Pfalm Ixxviii. 51. cv. 23. cvi. 22. In Plutarch, Egypt is called Chemia; and there are traces of the name of Ham or Cham, in Pfochemmis, and Pfitta-chemmis, which are cantons of Egypt. See EGYPT, § 3.

(2.) *HAM. n. f. [ham, Saxon; hamme, Dutch.} 1. The hip; the hinder part of the articulation of the thigh with the knee.-The ham was much relaxed; but there was fome contraction remains. Wifeman. 2. The thigh of a hog falted.

Who has not learn'd, fresh sturgeon and ham pye

Pope.

Are no rewards for want and infamy? (3.) HAM, in commerce, &c. See § 2, def. 2. Weftphalia hams are prepared by falting them with falt-petre, preffing them in a prefs eight or ten days, then steeping them in juniper water,

and

and drying them by the fmoke of juniper wood. A ham may be falted in imitation of those of Weftphalia, by fprinkling a ham of young pork with falt for one day, to fetch out the blood; then wiping it dry, and rubbing it with a mixture of 1 Ib. of brown fugar, lb. of faltpetre, pint of bay falt, and 3 pints of common falt, well ftirred in an iron pan over the fire, till moderately hot: let it lie three weeks in this falting; turn it often; then dry it and hang it up.

'(4.) *HAM, whether initial or final, is no other than the Saxon ham, a houfe, farm, or village. Gibson's Camden.

(5.) HAM fignifies also a narrow meadow. (6.) HAM, or CHAM, in ancient geography, the country of the Zuzims. Gen. xiv. 5. Its fituation is not now known.

(7.) HAM, or HAMM, in modern geography, a city of Germany, in the circle of Weftphalia, capital of the county of Mark, and fubject to the K. of Pruffia. It is feated on the Lippe, on the frontiers of Munfter. It was formerly a Hanfe town, but is now reduced. Lon. 7.53. E. Lat. 51.42. N. (8.) HAM, a town of France, in the dep. of Somme, and late prov. of Picardy, feated on the Somme, among marshes. It has a ftrong caftle, and a round tower, whofe walls are 36 feet thick. It was taken by the Spaniards in 1557, but reftored by treaty. It lies 10 miles N. of Noyons, and 48 of Paris. Lon. 3. 9. E. Lat. 49. 45. E.

(9.) HAM, a village of Surry, between Peterf. ham and Kingfton, 11 miles WSW. of London. The houses furround a pleafant common.

(10-19.) HAM, is alfo the name of ten other villages; viz. of two in Dorsetshire, two in Kent; and of one each in Cornwall, Gloucefter, Herefordshire, Surry, Worcester, and Wilts.

2

(20, 21.) HAM, EAST, and WEST, a villages in Effex, on the Lea, 4 miles E. by N. of London: near which is a spring well, remarkable for never freezing.

(22.) HAM, THE LAND OF. See N° 1, and AFRICA.

HAMADA, a town of Arabia, in Yemen.
HAMADAN. See AMADAN.

HAMADRYADES, [from 'aua, together, and Sgur, an oak,] a kind of inferior deities revered among the ancient heathens, and believed to prefide over woods and forests, and to be inclosed under the bark of oaks. They were supposed to live and die with the trees they were attached to; as is obferved by Servius on Virgil, Eclog. x. ver. 62. after Mnefimachus, the fcholiaft of Apollonius, &c. who mentions other traditions relating to them. The poets often confound the Hamadryads with the NAIADS, Napææ, and rural nymphs in general. See Catullus, Carm. Ixviii. v. 23. Ovid, Faft.iv.229. Met. i. v. 695. xiv. v. 628. Proper tius, Eleg. xx. 32. Virg. Ecl. x. 64. Georg. iv. 382, 383. Feftus calls them QUERQUETULANE, as being fprung from oaks. Pherenicius, in Athenæus, lib. iii. calls the vine, fig-tree, and other fruittrees, hamadryades. This idea among the ancients, of intellectual beings annexed to trees, accounts for their worflrip of trees. Livy fpeaks of an ambaffador addrefling himself to an old oak, as to an intelligent perfon and a divinity. Lib. iii. §-25.

HAMAH, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in Syria,

By fome travellers it is corruptly called Amarland Amant. Some mistake it for the ancient APAMEA; now called Afamiyah, but that town is a day's journey from Hamah. Hamah is feated among hills, and has a caftle on one of them. It has al ways been a confiderable place, and in the 13th and 14th centuries had princes of its own. Among thefe ISMAEL ABULFEDA was famous for his skill in geography. It is very large, and being feated on the afcent of a hill, makes a fine appearance; but like other towns under the Turkish government, is going to decay. Many of the houses are half ruined; but those which are still standing, as well as the mosques and caftle, have their walls built of black and white ftones, difpofed so as to form various figures. The river Af, the ancient ORONTES, runs by the caftle, and fills the ditches round it, which are cat very deep into the rock paffes through the town from S. to N. and in its courfe turns 18 great wheels, called faki, which raife great quantities of water to a confiderable height, and throw it into canals fupported by arches, which run into the gardens. There are fome pretty good market-places in Hamah. Linen is manufactured there, and fent to Tripoli to be ex ported into Europe. Lon. 16.15. E. Lat.35.15.N.

HAMAMELIS, WITCH HAZEL; a genus of the digynia order, belonging to the tetrandria clafs of plants; and ́in the natural method ranking with thofe of which the order is doubtful. The involucrum is triphyllous, the proper calyx tetraphyl lous; there are four petals; the nut horned and bilocular. There is but one fpecies, a native of Virginia. It has a fhrubby or woody ftem, branch. ing 3 or 4 feet high; oval, indented, alternaté leaves, refembling thofe of common hazel; and flowers, growing in clusters from the joints of the young branches, but not fucceeded by feeds in this country. It is hardy, and is admitted as a variety in our gardens. Its flowers are remarkable for appearing in November and December, when the leaves are fallen. It may be propagated either by feeds or layers.

HAMAMET, a town of Barbary, on the E. coaft of Tunis, and N. fide of the Gulf of Hamamet, 30 miles S. of Tunis. Lon. 10. 15. E. Lat. 36, 35. N.

HAMAMLEEF, a town 12 miles E. of Tunis, noted for its hot baths, which are famed for curing rheumatisms and many other complaints. The Bey has a very fine bath, which he permits the confuls and others to use.

HAMAN, [12. Heb. i. e. making an uproar.] the fon of Hammedatha, an AGAGITE, or Ama lekite, the prime minister of Pertia and favourite of K. Ahafuerus; was one of the most barbarous and vindictive monsters that ever existed, who, to gratify his haughty vengeance against a single indivi dual, planned the mailacre of the whole nation of the Jews. His diabolical scheme, repeated disappointments, and deserved death, are recorded in Efther, ch. iii. vi. and vii.

HAMAR, a town of Norway, in Aggerhuys, 52 miles NE. of Chriftiania. Lon. 11. 5. E. Lat, 60. 30. N.

HAMARS, a town of France, in the dept. of Calvados, 13 miles SSW, of Caen, and 14 WNW. of Falaife. HAMATED.

« PreviousContinue »