[1] Hence the secondary meaning of the French word _huppe_--a crest
or tuft (cf. Littre, _Dict. francais_, i. 2067).
[2] This indeed is denied by Naumann, but by him alone, and the
statement in the text is confirmed by many eye-witnesses.
[3] Under the name of _Dukipath_, in the authorized version of the
Bible translated "lapwing" (Lev. xi. 19, Deut. xiv. 18), the hoopoe
was accounted unclean by the Jewish law. Arabs have a great reverence
for the bird, imparting to it marvellous medicinal and other
qualities, and making use of its head in all their charms (cf.
Tristram, _Nat. Hist. of the Bible_, pp. 208, 209).
[4] The genera _Rhinopomastus_ and _Irrisor_ are generally placed in
the Family _Upupidae_, but Dr Murie, after an exhaustive examination
of their osteology, regards them as forming a group of equal value.
HOORN, a seaport in the province of North Holland, Holland, on a bay of
the Zuider Zee called the Hoornerhop, and a junction station 23(1/2) m.
by rail N. by E. of Amsterdam, on the railway to Enkhuizen, with which
it is also connected by steam tramway. Pop. (1900) 10,647. Hoorn is
distinguished by its old-world air and the beauty and interest of its
numerous gabled houses of the 16th and 17th centuries. Many of these are
decorated with inscriptions and bas-reliefs, some of which commemorate
the battle on the Zuider Zee in 1573, in which the Beggars defeated the
Spaniards under Count Bossu. Walks and gardens now surround the town in
the place of the old city walls, but a few towers and gateways adorned
with various old coats of arms are still standing. The fine Gothic
bastion tower overlooking the harbour was built in 1532; the East gate
not later than 1578. Among the public buildings of special interest are
the picturesque St John's hospital (1563), now used for military
purposes; the old mint; the hospital for aged men and women (beginning
of 17th century); the weigh-house (1609); the town hall, in which the
states of West Friesland formerly met; and the old court-house, which
dates from the beginning of the 17th century, though parts of it are
older, containing a modern museum and some early portraits. There are
also various charitable and educational institutions, Protestant and
Roman Catholic churches and a synagogue. The extensive foreign commerce
which Hoorn carried on in the 16th and 17th centuries has almost
entirely vanished, but there is still a considerable trade with other
parts of the Netherlands, especially in cheese and cattle. The chief
industries include gold and silver work, and there are also tobacco
factories, saw-mills and some small boat-building yards, a considerable
number of vessels being engaged in the Zuider Zee fisheries.
Hoorn, latinized as _Horna_ or _Hornum_, has existed at least from the
first part of the 14th century, as it is mentioned in a document of the
year 1311, five years earlier than the date usually assigned for its
foundation. In 1356 it received municipal privileges from Count William
V. of Holland, and in 1426 it was surrounded with walls. It was at Hoorn
in 1416 that the first great net was made for the herring fishery, an
industry which long proved an abundant source of wealth to the town.
During the 15th century Hoorn shared in the troubles occasioned by the
different contending factions; in 1569 the Spanish forces entered the
town; but in 1572 it cast in its lot with the states of the Netherlands.
In the 16th century it was a commercial centre, important for its trade,
fisheries and breweries. A company of commerce and navigation was formed
at Hoorn in 1720, and the admiralty offices and storehouses remained
here until their removal to Medemblik in 1795. The English under Sir
Ralph Abercromby took possession of the town in 1799, and in 1811 it
suffered severely from the French. Among the celebrities of Hoorn are
William Schouten, who discovered in 1616 the passage round Cape Horn, or
Hoorn, as he named it in honour of his birthplace; Abel Janszoon Tasman,
whose fame is associated with Tasmania; and Jan Pietersz Coen,
governor-general of the Dutch East Indies.
HOOSICK FALLS, a village of Rensselaer county, New York, U.S.A., in the
township of Hoosick, 27 m. N.E. of Troy, on the Hoosick river. Pop. of
the village (1890) 7014; (1900) 5671, of whom 1092 were foreign-born;
(1905) 5251; (1910) 5532; of the township (1900) 8631; (1910) 8315.
Hoosick Falls is served by the Boston & Maine Railroad, and is connected
by electric railway with Bennington, Vermont, about 8 m. E. The falls of
the Hoosick river furnish water-power for the manufacture of
agricultural machinery by the Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine
Co., which dates from 1866, the business having been started in 1852 by
Walter Abbott Wood (1815-1892), who was a Republican representative in
Congress in 1879-1883. Other manufactures are knit goods, shirts and
collars and paper-making machinery. Hoosick Falls was settled about 1688
by Dutch settlers--settlers from Connecticut and Massachusetts came
after 1763--and it was first incorporated in 1827. Three miles N.E. of
the village, at Walloomsac, in the township of Hoosick, the battle of
Bennington was fought, on the 16th of August 1777.
HOP (Ger. _Hopfen_, Fr. _houblon_), _Humulus Lupulus_, L., an herbaceous
twining plant, belonging to the natural order Cannabinaceae, which is by
some botanists included in the larger group called Urticaceae by
Endlicher. It is of common occurrence in hedges and thickets in the
southern counties of England, but is believed not to be native in
Scotland. On the European continent it is distributed from Greece to
Scandinavia, and extends through the Caucasus and Central Asia to the
Altai Mountains. It is common, but doubtfully indigenous, in the
northern and western states of North America, and has been introduced
into Brazil, Australia and the Himalayas.
It is a perennial plant, producing annually several long twining
roughish striated stems, which twist from left to right, are often 15 to
20 ft. long and climb freely over hedges and bushes. The roughness of
stem and leaves is due to lines of strong hooked hairs, which help the
plant to cling to its support. The leaves are stalked, opposite, 3-5
lobed, and coarsely serrate, and bear a general resemblance to those of
the vine, but are, as well as the whole plant, rough to the touch; the
upper leaves are sometimes scarcely divided, or quite entire. The
stipules are between the leaf-stalks, each consisting of two lateral
ones united, or rarely with the tips free. The male and female flowers
are produced on distinct plants. The male inflorescence (fig. 1, A)
forms a panicle; the flowers consist of a small greenish five-parted
perianth (a) enclosing five stamens, whose anthers (b) open by terminal
slits. The female inflorescence (fig. 1, B) is less conspicuous in the
young state. The catkin or strobile consists of a number of small acute
bracts, with two sessile ovaries at their base, each subtended by a
rounded bractlet (c). Both the bracts and bractlets enlarge greatly
during the development of the ovary, and form, when fully grown, the
membranous scales of the strobile (fig. 2, _a_); they are known as
"petals" by hop-growers. The bracts can then only be distinguished from
the bractlets by being rather more acute and more strongly veined. The
perianth (fig. 1, _d_) is short, cup-shaped, undivided and closely
applied to the ovary, which it ultimately encloses. In the young
strobile the two purple hairy styles (e) of each ovary project beyond
the bracts. The ovary contains a single ovule (fig. 1. _f_) which
becomes in the fruit an exalbuminous seed, containing a spirally-coiled
embryo (fig. 2, _b_). The light dusty pollen is carried by the wind from
the male to the female flowers.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Male (A) and Female (B) Inflorescence of the
Hop.]
The ovary and the base of the bracts are covered with a yellowish
powder, consisting of minute sessile grains, called lupulin or lupulinic
glands. These glands (fig. 2, _c_) are from 1/260 to 1/140 in. in
diameter, like flattened subovate little saucers in shape, and attached
to a short pedicel. The upper or hemispherical portion bears a delicate
continuous membrane, the cuticle, which becomes raised by the secretion
beneath it of the yellowish lupulin. The stalk is not perceptible in the
gland as found in commerce. When fresh the gland is seen to be filled
with a yellowish or dark brown liquid; this on drying contracts in bulk
and forms a central mass. It is to these lupulinic glands that the
medicinal properties of the hop are chiefly due. By careful sifting
about 1 oz. may be obtained from 1 lb. of hops, but the East Kent
variety is said to yield more than the Sussex hops.
In hop gardens a few male plants, usually three or four to an acre, are
sometimes planted, that number being deemed sufficient to fertilize the
female flowers. The blossoms are produced in August, and the strobiles
are fit for gathering from the beginning of September to the middle of
October, according to the weather.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Fruit of Hop.]
The cultivation of hops for use in the manufacture of beer dates from an
early period. In the 8th and 9th centuries hop gardens, called
"humularia" or "humuleta," existed in France and Germany. Until the 16th
century, however, hops appear to have been grown in a very fitful
manner, and to a limited extent, generally only for private consumption;
but after the beginning of the 17th century the cultivation increased
rapidly. The plant was introduced into England from Flanders in 1525;
and in America its cultivation was encouraged by legislative enactments
in 1657. Formerly several plants were used as well as hops to season
ale, hence the name "alehoof" for _Nepeta Glechoma_, and "alecost" for
_Balsamita vulgaris_. The sweet gale, _Myrica Gale_, and the sage,
_Salvia officinalis_, were also similarly employed. Various hop
substitutes, in the form of powder, have been offered in commerce of
late years, most of which appear to have quassia as a chief ingredient.
The young tender tops of the hop are in Belgium cut off in spring and
eaten like asparagus, and are forced from December to February.
_Medical Use._--The principal constituents of the strobiles are
_lupulin_, one of the few liquid alkaloids; _lupulinic acid_, a bitter
crystalline body, soluble in ether, which is without any other
pharmacological action than that common to bitter substances;
_Valerol_, a volatile oil which in old hops undergoes a change to the
malodorous body valerianic acid; resin; trimethylamine; a peculiar
modification of tannin known as _humulotannic acid_; and a
sesqui-terpene. The British pharmacopoeia contains two preparations of
the strobiles,--an infusion (dose, 1-2 oz.) and a tincture (dose,
1/2-1 drachm). The glands obtained from the strobiles are known in
pharmacy as lupulin, a name which tends to confusion with that of the
alkaloid. They occur in commerce as a bright yellow-brown powder, seen
under a lens to consist of minute glandular particles. The dose of
this so-called lupulin is 2-5 grains. From it there is prepared the
Tinctura Lupulinae of the United States pharmacopoeia, which is given
in doses of 10-60 minims. Furthermore, there are prepared hop pillows,
designed to procure sleep; but these act, when at all, mainly by
suggestion. The pharmacological action of hops is determined first by
the volatile oil they contain, which has the actions of its class.
Similarly the lupulinic acid may act as a bitter tonic. The
preparations of hops, when taken internally, are frequently hypnotic,
though unfortunately different specimens vary considerably in
composition, none of the preparations being standardized. It is by no
means certain whether the hypnotic action of hops is due to the
alkaloid lupulin or possibly to the volatile oil which they contain.
Medical practice, however, is acquainted with many more trustworthy
and equally safe hypnotics. The bitter acid of hops may endow beer
containing it with a certain value in cases of impaired gastric
digestion, and to the hypnotic principle of hops may partly be
ascribed--as well as to the alcohol--the soporific action of beer in
the case of some individuals.