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Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.
(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek
letters.
(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
ARTICLE HEMIMORPHITE: "Hemimorphite occurs with other ores of zinc
(calamine and blende), forming veins and beds in sedimentary
limestones." 'sedimentary' amended from 'sedimentry'.
ARTICLE HEMP: "But typically the drug is an intoxicant, resembling
alcohol in many features of its action, but differing in others."
'is' amended from 'in'.
ARTICLE HENLEY, WILLIAM ERNEST: "In 1890 Henley published Views and
Reviews, a volume of notable criticisms, described by himself as
'less a book than a mosaic of scraps and shreds recovered from the
shot rubbish of some fourteen years of journalism.'" 'mosaic'
amended from 'mosiac'.
ARTICLE HENRY VIII.: "... and the Councils of Wales and of the
North were given summary powers derived from the Roman civil law
similar to those exercised by the Star Chamber at Westminster and
the court of Castle Chamber at Dublin." 'similar' amended from
'similiar'.
ARTICLE HERBARIUM: "... some species being almost always found
parasitical on particular plants." Duplicated 'found'.
ARTICLE HERCULES: "Hera sent two serpents to destroy the new-born
Hercules, but he strangled them." 'destroy' amended from 'destory'.
ARTICLE HEREDITAMENT: "An example of a corporeal hereditament is
land held in freehold, of incorporeal hereditaments, tithes,
advowsons, pensions, annuities, rents, franchises, &c."
'hereditaments' amended from 'herditaments'.
ARTICLE HEREFORDSHIRE: "Herefordshire probably originated as a
shire in the time of Aethelstan, and is mentioned in the Saxon
Chronicle in 1051." 'Chronicle' amended from 'Chroncile'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME XIII, SLICE III
HELMONT, JEAN to HERNOSAND
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
HELMONT, JEAN BAPTISTE VAN HENRY, ROBERT
HELMSTEDT HENRY, VICTOR
HELMUND HENRY, WILLIAM
HELM WIND HENRYSON, ROBERT
HELOTS HENSCHEL, GEORGE
HELPS, SIR ARTHUR HENSELT, ADOLF VON
HELSINGBORG HENSLOW, JOHN STEVENS
HELSINGFORS HENSLOWE, PHILIP
HELST, BARTHOLOMAEUS VAN DER HENTY, GEORGE ALFRED
HELSTON HENWOOD, WILLIAM JORY
HELVETIC CONFESSIONS HENZADA
HELVETII HEPBURN, SIR JOHN
HELVETIUS, CLAUDE ADRIEN HEPHAESTION (Macedonian general)
HELVIDIUS PRISCUS HEPHAESTION (Alexandrian grammarian)
HELY-HUTCHINSON, JOHN HEPHAESTUS
HELYOT, PIERRE HEPPENHEIM
HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA HEPPLEWHITE, GEORGE
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD HEPTARCHY
HEMEROBAPTISTS HERA
HEMICHORDA HERACLEA
HEMICYCLE HERACLEON
HEMIMERUS HERACLEONAS
HEMIMORPHITE HERACLIDAE
HEMINGBURGH, WALTER OF HERACLIDES PONTICUS
HEMIPTERA HERACLITUS
HEMLOCK HERACLIUS
HEMP HERALD
HEMSTERHUIS, FRANCOIS HERALDRY
HEMSTERHUIS, TIBERIUS HERAT
HEMY, CHARLES NAPIER HERAULT
HEN HERAULT DE SECHELLES, MARIE JEAN
HENAULT, CHARLES JEAN FRANCOIS HERB
HENBANE HERBARIUM
HENCHMAN HERBART, JOHANN FRIEDRICH
HENDERSON, ALEXANDER HERBELOT DE MOLAINVILLE, BARTHELEMY D'
HENDERSON, EBENEZER HERBERAY DES ESSARTS, NICOLAS DE
HENDERSON, GEORGE FRANCIS ROBERT HERBERT (Family)
HENDERSON, JOHN HERBERT, GEORGE
HENDERSON (Kentucky, U.S.A.) HERBERT, HENRY WILLIAM
HENDIADYS HERBERT, SIR THOMAS
HENDON HERBERT OF CHERBURY, EDWARD HERBERT
HENDRICKS, THOMAS ANDREWS HERBERT OF LEA, SIDNEY HERBERT
HENGELO HERBERTON
HENGEST and HORSA HERCULANEUM
HENGSTENBERG, ERNST WILHELM HERCULANO DE CARVALHO, ALEXANDRE
HENKE, HEINRICH PHILIPP KONRAD HERCULES (hero of Hellas)
HENLE, FRIEDRICH GUSTAV JAKOB HERCULES (constellation)
HENLEY, JOHN HERD
HENLEY, WILLIAM ERNEST HERDER, JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON
HENLEY-ON-THAMES HEREDIA, JOSE MARIA DE
HENNA HEREDIA Y CAMPUZANO, JOSE MARIA
HENNEBONT HEREDITAMENT
HENNEQUIN, PHILIPPE AUGUSTE HEREDITY
HENNER, JEAN JACQUES HEREFORD
HENRIETTA MARIA HEREFORDSHIRE
HENRY (name origin) HERERO
HENRY I. (German king) HERESY
HENRY II. (Roman emperor) HEREWARD
HENRY III. (Roman emperor) HERFORD
HENRY IV. (Roman emperor) HERGENROTHER, JOSEPH VON
HENRY V. (Roman emperor) HERINGSDORF
HENRY VI. (Roman emperor) HERIOT, GEORGE
HENRY VII. (Roman emperor) HERIOT
HENRY VII. (German king) HERISAU
HENRY RASPE HERITABLE JURISDICTIONS
HENRY (emperor of Romania) HERKIMER
HENRY I. (king of England) HERKOMER, SIR HUBERT VON
HENRY II. (king of England) HERLEN, FRITZ
HENRY III. (king of England) HERMAE
HENRY IV. (king of England) HERMAGORAS
HENRY V. (king of England) HERMANDAD
HENRY VI. (king of England) HERMAN DE VALENCIENNES
HENRY VII. (king of England) HERMANN I.
HENRY VIII. (king of England) HERMANN OF REICHENAU
HENRY I. (king of Castile) HERMANN OF WIED
HENRY I. (king of France) HERMANN, FRIEDRICH WILHELM VON
HENRY II. (king of France) HERMANN, JOHANN GOTTFRIED JAKOB
HENRY III. (king of France) HERMANN, KARL FRIEDRICH
HENRY IV. (king of France) HERMAPHRODITUS
HENRY I. (king of Navarre) HERMAS, SHEPHERD OF
HENRY II. (king of Navarre) HERMENEUTICS
HENRY I. (king of Portugal) HERMES (Greek god)
HENRY II. (duke of Brunswick-W.) HERMES, GEORG
HENRY (the Proud, duke of Saxony) HERMES TRISMEGISTUS
HENRY (the Lion, duke of Saxony) HERMESIANAX
HENRY (Prince of Battenberg) HERMIAS
HENRY FITZ HENRY HERMIPPUS
HENRY (Cardinal York) HERMIT
HENRY OF PORTUGAL HERMOGENES
HENRY OF ALMAIN HERMON
HENRY OF BLOIS HERMSDORF
HENRY OF GHENT HERNE, JAMES A.
HENRY OF HUNTINGDON HERNE (town of Germany)
HENRY OF LAUSANNE HERNE BAY
HENRY, EDWARD LAMSON HERNE THE HUNTER
HENRY, JAMES HERNIA
HENRY, JOSEPH HERNICI
HENRY, MATTHEW HERNOSAND
HENRY, PATRICK
HELMONT, JEAN BAPTISTE VAN (1577-1644), Belgian chemist, physiologist
and physician, a member of a noble family, was born at Brussels in
1577.[1] He was educated at Louvain, and after ranging restlessly from
one science to another and finding satisfaction in none, turned to
medicine, in which he took his doctor's degree in 1599. The next few
years he spent in travelling through Switzerland, Italy, France and
England. Returning to his own country he was at Antwerp at the time of
the great plague in 1605, and having contracted a rich marriage settled
in 1609 at Vilvorde, near Brussels, where he occupied himself with
chemical experiments and medical practice until his death on the 30th of
December 1644. Van Helmont presents curious contradictions. On the one
hand he was a disciple of Paracelsus (though he scornfully repudiates
his errors was well as those of most other contemporary authorities), a
mystic with strong leanings to the supernatural, an alchemist who
believed that with a small piece of the philosopher's stone he had
transmuted 2000 times as much mercury into gold; on the other hand he
was touched with the new learning that was producing men like Harvey,
Galileo and Bacon, a careful observer of nature, and an exact
experimenter who in some cases realized that matter can neither be
created nor destroyed. As a chemist he deserves to be regarded as the
founder of pneumatic chemistry, even though it made no substantial
progress for a century after his time, and he was the first to
understand that there are gases distinct in kind from atmospheric air.
The very word "gas" he claims as his own invention, and he perceived
that his "gas sylvestre" (our carbon dioxide) given off by burning
charcoal is the same as that produced by fermenting must and that which
sometimes renders the air of caves irrespirable. For him air and water
are the two primitive elements of things. Fire he explicitly denies to
be an element, and earth is not one because it can be reduced to water.
That plants, for instance, are composed of water he sought to show by
the ingenious quantitative experiment of planting a willow weighing 5
lb. in 200 lb. of dry soil and allowing it to grow for five years; at
the end of that time it had become a tree weighing 169 lb., and since it
had received nothing but water and the soil weighed practically the same
as at the beginning, he argued that the increased weight of wood, bark
and roots had been formed from water alone. It was an old idea that the
processes of the living body are fermentative in character, but he
applied it more elaborately than any of his predecessors. For him
digestion, nutrition and even movement are due to ferments, which
convert dead food into living flesh in six stages. But having got so far
with the application of chemical principles to physiological problems,
he introduces a complicated system of supernatural agencies like the
_archei_ of Paracelsus, which preside over and direct the affairs of the
body. A central _archeus_ controls a number of subsidiary _archei_ which
move through the ferments, and just as diseases are primarily caused by
some affection (_exorbitatio_) of the _archeus_, so remedies act by
bringing it back to the normal. At the same time chemical principles
guided him in the choice of medicines--undue acidity of the digestive
juices, for example, was to be corrected by alkalies and _vice versa_;
he was thus a forerunner of the iatrochemical school, and did good
service to the art of medicine by applying chemical methods to the
preparation of drugs. Over and above the _archeus_ he taught that there
is the sensitive soul which is the husk or shell of the immortal mind.
Before the Fall the _archeus_ obeyed the immortal mind and was directly
controlled by it, but at the Fall men received also the sensitive soul
and with it lost immortality, for when it perishes the immortal mind can
no longer remain in the body. In addition to the _archeus_, which he
described as "aura vitalis seminum, vitae directrix," Van Helmont had
other governing agencies resembling the _archeus_ and not always clearly
distinguished from it. From these he invented the term _blas_, defined
as the "vis motus tam alterivi quam localis." Of _blas_ there were
several kinds, e.g. _blas humanum_ and _blas meteoron_; the heavens he
said "constare gas materia et blas efficiente." He was a faithful
Catholic, but incurred the suspicion of the Church by his tract _De
magnetica vulnerum curatione_ (1621), which was thought to derogate from
some of the miracles. His works were collected and published at
Amsterdam as _Ortus medicinae, vel opera et opuscula omnia_ in 1668 by
his son Franz Mercurius (b. 1618 at Vilvorde, d. 1699 at Berlin), in
whose own writings, e.g. _Cabbalah Denudata_ (1677) and _Opuscula
philosophica_ (1690), mystical theosophy and alchemy appear in still
wilder confusion.
See M. Foster, _Lectures on the History of Physiology_ (1901); also
Chevreul in _Journ. des savants_ (Feb. and March 1850), and Cap in
_Journ. pharm. chim._ (1852). Other authorities are Poultier d'Elmoth,
_Memoire sur J. B. van Helmont_ (1817); Rixner and Sieber, _Beitrage
zur Geschichte der Physiologie_ (1819-1826), vol. ii.; Spiers,
_Helmont's System der Medicin_ (1840); Melsens, _Lecons sur van
Helmont_ (1848); Rommelaere, _Etudes sur J. B. van Helmont_ (1860).
FOOTNOTE:
[1] An alternative date for his birth is 1579 and for his death 1635
(see _Bull. Roy. Acad. Belg._, 1907, 7, p. 732).
HELMSTEDT, or more rarely Helmstadt, a town of Germany, in the duchy of
Brunswick, 30 m. N.W. of Magdeburg on the main line of railway to
Brunswick. Pop. (1905) 15,415. The principal buildings are the Juleum,
the former university, built in the Renaissance style towards the close
of the 16th century, and containing a library of 40,000 volumes; the
fine Stephanskirche dating from the 12th century; the Walpurgiskirche
restored in 1893-1894; the Marienberger Kirche, a beautiful church in
the Roman style, and the Roman Catholic church. The Augustinian nunnery
of Marienberg founded in 1176 is now a Lutheran school. The town
contains the ruins of the Benedictine abbey of St Ludger, which was
secularized in 1803. The educational institutions include several
schools. The principal manufactures are furniture, yarn, soap, tobacco,
sugar, vitriol and earthenware. Near the town is Bad Helmstedt, which
has an iron mineral spring, and the Lubbensteine, two blocks of granite
on which sacrifices to Woden are said to have been offered. Near Bad
Helmstedt a monument has been erected to those who fell in the
Franco-German War; in the town there is one to those killed at Waterloo.
Helmstedt originated, according to legend, in connexion with the
monastery founded by Ludger or Liudger (d. 809), the first bishop of
Munster. There appears, however, little doubt that this tradition is
mythical and that Helmstedt was not founded until about 900. It obtained
civic rights in 1099 and, although destroyed by the archbishop of
Magdeburg in 1199, it was soon rebuilt. In 1457 it joined the Hanseatic
League, and in 1490 it came into the possession of Brunswick. In 1576
Julius, duke of Brunswick, founded a university here, and throughout the
17th century this was one of the chief seats of Protestant learning. It
was closed by Jerome, king of Westphalia, in 1809.
See Ludewig, _Geschichte und Beschreibung der Stadt Helmstedt_
(Helmstedt, 1821).
HELMUND, a river of Afghanistan, in length about 600 m. The Helmund,
which is identical with the ancient Etymander, is the most important
river in Afghanistan, next to the Kabul river, which it exceeds both in
volume and length. It rises in the recesses of the Koh-i-Baba to the
west of Kabul, its infant stream parting the Unai pass from the Irak,
the two chief passes on the well-known road from Kabul to Bamian. For 50
m. from its source its course is ascertained, but beyond that point for
the next 50 no European has followed it. About the parallel of 33 deg.
N. it enters the Zamindawar province which lies to the N.W. of Kandahar,
and thenceforward it is a well-mapped river to its termination in the
lake of Seistan. Till about 40 m. above Girishk the character of the
Helmund is that of a mountain river, flowing through valleys which in
summer are the resort of pastoral tribes. On leaving the hills it enters
on a flat country, and extends over a gravelly bed. Here also it begins
to be used in irrigation. At Girishk it is crossed by the principal
route from Herat to Kandahar. Forty-five miles below Girishk the Helmund
receives its greatest tributary, the Arghandab, from the high Ghilzai
country beyond Kandahar, and becomes a very considerable river, with a
width of 300 or 400 yds. and an occasional depth of 9 to 12 ft. Even in
the dry season it is never without a plentiful supply of water. The
course of the river is more or less south-west from its source till in
Seistan it crosses meridian 62 deg., when it turns nearly north, and so
flows for 70 or 80 m. till it falls into the Seistan hamuns, or swamps,
by various mouths. In this latter part of its course it forms the
boundary between Afghan and Persian Seistan, and owing to constant
changes in its bed and the swampy nature of its borders it has been a
fertile source of frontier squabbles. Persian Seistan was once highly
cultivated by means of a great system of canal irrigation; but for
centuries, since the country was devastated by Timur, it has been a
barren, treeless waste of flat alluvial plain. In years of exceptional
flood the Seistan lakes spread southwards into an overflow channel
called the Shelag which, running parallel to the northern course of the
Helmund in the opposite direction, finally loses its waters in the
Gaod-i-Zirreh swamp, which thus becomes the final bourne of the river.
Throughout its course from its confluence with the Arghandab to the ford
of Chahar Burjak, where it bends northward, the Helmund valley is a
narrow green belt of fertility sunk in the midst of a wide alluvial
desert, with many thriving villages interspersed amongst the remains of
ancient cities, relics of Kaiani rule. The recent political mission to
Seistan under Sir Henry McMahon (1904-1905) added much information
respecting the ancient and modern channels of the lower Helmund, proving
that river to have been constantly shifting its bed over a vast area,
changing the level of the country by silt deposits, and in conjunction
with the terrific action of Seistan winds actually altering its
configuration. (T. H. H.*)
HELM WIND, a wind that under certain conditions blows over the
escarpment of the Pennines, near Cross Fell from the eastward, when a
helm (helmet) cloud covers the summit. The helm bar is a roll of cloud
that forms in front of it, to leeward.
See "Report on the Helm Wind Inquiry," by W. Marriott, _Quart. Journ.
Roy. Met. Soc._ xv. 103.
HELOTS (Gr. [Greek: heilotes] or [Greek: heilotai]), the serfs of the
ancient Spartans. The word was derived in antiquity from the town of
Helos in Laconia, but is more probably connected with [Greek: helos], a
fen, or with the root of [Greek: helein], to capture. Some scholars
suppose them to have been of Achaean race, but they were more probably
the aborigines of Laconia who had been enslaved by the Achaeans before
the Dorian conquest. After the second Messenian war (see SPARTA) the
conquered Messenians were reduced to the status of helots, from which
Epaminondas liberated them three centuries later after the battle of
Leuctra (371 B.C.). The helots were state slaves bound to the
soil--_adscripti glebae_--and assigned to individual Spartiates to till
their holdings ([Greek: kleroi]); their masters could neither emancipate
them nor sell them off the land, and they were under an oath not to
raise the rent payable yearly in kind by the helots. In time of war they
served as light-armed troops or as rowers in the fleet; from the
Peloponnesian War onwards they were occasionally employed as heavy
infantry ([Greek: hoplitai]), distinguished bravery being rewarded by
emancipation. That the general attitude of the Spartans towards them was
one of distrust and cruelty cannot be doubted. Aristotle says that the
ephors of each year on entering office declared war on the helots so
that they might be put to death at any time without violating religious
scruple (Plutarch, _Lycurgus_ 28), and we have a well-attested record of
2000 helots being freed for service in war and then secretly
assassinated (Thuc. iv. 80). But when we remember the value of the
helots from a military and agricultural point of view we shall not
readily believe that the _crypteia_ was really, as some authors
represent it, an organized system of massacre; we shall see in it "a
good police training, inculcating hardihood and vigour in the young,"
while at the same time getting rid of any helots who were found to be
plotting against the state (see further CRYPTEIA).
Intermediate between Helots and Spartiates were the two classes of
_Neodamodes_ and _Mothones_. The former were emancipated helots, or
possibly their descendants, and were much used in war from the end of
the 5th century; they served especially on foreign campaigns, as those
of Thibron (400-399 B.C.) and Agesilaus (396-394 B.C.) in Asia Minor.
The _mothones_ or _mothakes_ were usually the sons of Spartiates and
helot mothers; they were free men sharing the Spartan training, but were
not full citizens, though they might become such in recognition of
special merit.
See C. O. Muller, _History and Antiquities of the Doric Race_ (Eng.
trans.), bk. iii. ch. 3.; G. Gilbert, _Greek Constitutional
Antiquities_ (Eng. trans.), pp. 30-35; A. H. J. Greenidge, _Handbook
of Greek Constitutional History_, pp. 83-85; G. Busolt, _Die griech.
Staats- u. Rechtsaltertumer_, S 84; _Griechische Geschichte_, i.[2]
525-528; G. F. Schomann, _Antiquities of Greece: The State_ (Eng.
trans.) pp. 194 ff. (M. N. T.)
HELPS, SIR ARTHUR (1813-1875), English writer and clerk of the Privy
Council, youngest son of Thomas Helps, a London merchant, was born near
London on the 10th of July 1813. He was educated at Eton and at Trinity
College, Cambridge, coming out 31st wrangler in the mathematical tripos
in 1835. He was recognized by the ablest of his contemporaries there as
a man of superior gifts, and likely to make his mark in after life. As a
member of the Conversazione Society, better known as the "Apostles," a
society established in 1820 for the purposes of discussion on social and
literary questions by a few young men attracted to each other by a
common taste for literature and speculation, he was associated with
Charles Buller, Frederick Maurice, Richard Chenevix Trench, Monckton
Milnes, Arthur Hallam and Alfred Tennyson. His first literary effort,
_Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd_ (1835), was a series of
aphorisms upon life, character, politics and manners. Soon after leaving
the university Arthur Helps became private secretary to Spring Rice
(afterwards Lord Monteagle), then chancellor of the exchequer. This
appointment he filled till 1839, when he went to Ireland as private
secretary to Lord Morpeth (afterwards earl of Carlisle), chief secretary
for Ireland. In the meanwhile (28th October 1836) Helps had married
Bessy, daughter of Captain Edward Fuller. He was one of the
commissioners for the settlement of certain Danish claims which dated so
far back as the siege of Copenhagen; but with the fall of the Melbourne
administration (1841) his official experience closed for a period of
nearly twenty years. He was not, however, forgotten by his political
friends. He possessed admirable tact and sagacity; his fitness for
official life was unmistakable, and in 1860 he was appointed clerk of
the Privy Council, on the recommendation of Lord Granville.
His _Essays written in the Intervals of Business_ had appeared in 1841,
and his _Claims of Labour, an Essay on the Duties of the Employers to
the Employed_, in 1844. Two plays, _King Henry the Second, an Historical
Drama_, and _Catherine Douglas, a Tragedy_, published in 1843, have no
particular merit. Neither in these, nor in his only other dramatic
effort, _Oulita the Serf_ (1858) did he show any real qualifications as
a playwright.
Helps possessed, however, enough dramatic power to give life and
individuality to the dialogues with which he enlivened many of his other
books. In his _Friends in Council, a Series of Readings and Discourse
thereon_ (1847-1859), Helps varied his presentment of social and moral
problems by dialogues between imaginary personages, who, under the names
of Milverton, Ellesmere and Dunsford, grew to be almost as real to
Helps's readers as they certainly became to himself. The book was very
popular, and the same expedient was resorted to in _Conversations on War
and General Culture_, published in 1871. The familiar speakers, with
others added, also appeared in his _Realmah_ (1868) and in the best of
its author's later works, _Talk about Animals and their Masters_ (1873).
A long essay on slavery in the first series of _Friends in Council_ was
subsequently elaborated into a work in two volumes published in 1848 and
1852, called _The Conquerors of the New World and their Bondsmen_. Helps
went to Spain in 1847 to examine the numerous MSS. bearing upon his
subject at Madrid. The fruits of these researches were embodied in an
historical work based upon his _Conquerors of the New World_, and called
_The Spanish Conquest in America, and its Relation to the History of
Slavery and the Government of Colonies_ (4 vols., 1855-1857-1861). But
in spite of his scrupulous efforts after accuracy, the success of the
book was marred by its obtrusively moral purpose and its discursive
character.
_The Life of Las Casas, the Apostle of the Indians_ (1868), _The Life of
Columbus_ (1869), _The Life of Pizarro_ (1869), and _The Life of
Hernando Cortes_ (1871), when extracted from the work and published
separately, proved successful. Besides the books which have been already
mentioned he wrote: _Organization in Daily Life, an Essay_ (1862),
_Casimir Maremma_ (1870), _Brevia_, _Short Essays and Aphorisms_ (1871),
_Thoughts upon Government_ (1872), _Life and Labours of Mr Thomas
Brassey_ (1872), _Ivan de Biron_ (1874), _Social Pressure_ (1875).
His appointment as clerk of the Council brought him into personal
communication with Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, both of whom
came to regard him with confidence and respect. After the Prince's
death, the Queen early turned to Helps to prepare an appreciation of her
husband's life and character. In his introduction to the collection
(1862) of the Prince Consort's speeches and addresses Helps adequately
fulfilled his task. Some years afterwards he edited and wrote a preface
to the Queen's _Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the Highlands_
(1868). In 1864 he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the
university of Oxford. He was made a C.B. in 1871 and K.C.B. in the
following year. His later years were troubled by financial
embarrassments, and he died on the 7th of March 1875.
HELSINGBORG, a seaport of Sweden in the district (_lan_) of Malmohus, 35
m. N. by E. of Copenhagen by rail and water. Pop. (1900), 24,670. It is
beautifully situated at the narrowest part of Oresund, or the Sound,
here only 3 m. wide, opposite Helsingor (Elsinore) in Denmark. Above the
town the brick tower of a former castle crowns a hill, commanding a fine
view over the Sound. On the outskirts are the Oresund Park, gardens
containing iodide and bromide springs, and frequented sea-baths. On the
coast to the north is the royal _chateau_ of Sofiero; to the south, the
small spa of Ramlosa. A system of electric trams is maintained. North
and east of Helsingborg lies the only coalfield in Sweden, extending
into the lofty Kullen peninsula, which forms the northern part of the
east shore of the Sound. Potter's clay is also found. Helsingborg ranks
among the first manufacturing towns of Sweden, having copper works,
using ore from Sulitelma in Norway, india-rubber works and breweries.
The artificial harbour has a depth of 24 ft., and there are extensive
docks. The chief exports are timber, butter and iron. The town is the
headquarters of the first army division.
The original site of the town is marked by the tower of the old
fortress, which is first mentioned in 1135. In the 14th century it was
several times besieged. From 1370 along with other towns in the province
of Skane, it was united for fifteen years with the Hanseatic League. The
fortress was destroyed by fire in 1418, and about 1425 Eric XIII. built
another near the sea, and caused the town to be transported thither,
bestowing upon it important privileges. Until 1658 it belonged to
Denmark, and it was again occupied by the Danes in 1676 and 1677. In
1684 its fortifications were dismantled. It was taken by Frederick IV.
of Denmark in November 1709, but on the 28th of February 1710 the Danes
were defeated in the neighbourhood, and the town came finally into the
possession of Sweden, though in 1711 it was again bombarded by the
Danes. A tablet on the quay commemorates the landing of Bernadotte after
his election as successor to the throne in 1810.
HELSINGFORS (Finnish _Helsinki_), a seaport and the capital of Finland
and of the province of Nyland, centre of the administrative, scientific,
educational and industrial life of Finland. The fine harbour is divided
into two parts by a promontory, and is protected at its entrance by a
group of small islands, on one of which stands the fortress of Sveaborg.
A third harbour is situated on the west side of the promontory, and all
three have granite quays. The city, which in 1810 had only 4065
inhabitants, Abo the then capital having 10,224, has increased with
great rapidity, having 22,228 inhabitants in 1860, 61,530 in 1890 and
111,654 in 1904. It is the centre of an active shipping trade with the
Baltic ports and with England, and of a railway system connecting it
with all parts of the grand duchy and with St Petersburg. Helsingfors is
handsome and well laid out with wide streets, parks, gardens and
monuments. The principal square contains the cathedral of St Nicholas,
the Senate House and the university, all striking buildings of
considerable architectural distinction. In the centre is the statue of
the Tsar Alexander II., who is looked upon as the protector of the
liberties of Finland, the monument being annually decorated with wreaths
and garlands. The university has a teaching staff of 141 with (1906)
1921 students, of whom 328 were women. The university is well provided
with museums and laboratories and has a library of over 250,000 volumes.
Other public institutions are the Athenaeum, with picture gallery, a
Swedish theatre and opera house, a Finnish theatre, the Archives, the
Senate House, the Nobles' House (_Riddarhuset_) and the House of the
Estates, the German (Lutheran) church and the Russian church. Some of
the scientific societies of Helsingfors have a wide repute, such as the
academy of sciences, the geographical, historical, Finno-Ugrian,
biblical, medical, law, arts and forestry societies, as also societies
for the spread of popular education and of arts and crafts. There are a
polytechnic, ten high schools, navigation and trade schools, institutes
for the blind and the mentally deficient, and numerous elementary
schools. The general standard of education is high, the publication of
books, reviews and newspapers being very active. The language of culture
is Swedish, but owing to recent manufacturing developments the majority
of the population is Finnish-speaking. Helsingfors displays great
manufacturing and commercial activity, the imports being coal,
machinery, sugar, grain and clothing. The manufactures of the city
consist largely of tobacco, beer and spirits, carpets, machinery and
sugar.
HELST, BARTHOLOMAEUS VAN DER, Dutch painter, was born in Holland at the
opening of the 17th century, and died at Amsterdam in 1670. The date and
place of his birth are uncertain; and it is equally difficult to confirm
or to deny the time-honoured statement that he was born in 1613 at
Amsterdam. It has been urged indeed by competent authority that Van der
Helst was not a native of Amsterdam, because a family of that name lived
as early as 1607 at Haarlem, and pictures are shown as works of Van der
Helst in the Haarlem Museum which might tend to prove that he was in
practice there before he acquired repute at Amsterdam. Unhappily
Bartholomew has not been traced amongst the children of Severijn van der
Helst, who married at Haarlem in 1607, and there is no proof that the
pictures at Haarlem are really his; though if they were so they would
show that he learnt his art from Frans Hals and became a skilled master
as early as 1631. Scheltema, a very competent judge in matters of Dutch
art chronology, supposes that Van der Heist was a resident at Amsterdam
in 1636. His first great picture, representing a gathering of civic
guards at a brewery, is variously assigned to 1639 and 1643, and still
adorns the town-hall of Amsterdam. His noble portraits of the
burgomaster Bicker and Andreas Bicker the younger, in the gallery of
Amsterdam, of the same date no doubt as Bicker's wife lately in the Ruhl
collection at Cologne, were completed in 1642. From that time till his
death there is no difficulty in tracing Van der Helst's career at
Amsterdam. He acquired and kept the position of a distinguished
portrait-painter, producing indeed little or nothing besides portraits
at any time, but founding, in conjunction with Nicolaes de Helt Stokade,
the painters' guild at Amsterdam in 1654. At some unknown date he
married Constance Reynst, of a good patrician family in the Netherlands,
bought himself a house in the Doelenstrasse and ended by earning a
competence. His likeness of Paul Potter at the Hague, executed in 1654,
and his partnership with Backhuysen, who laid in the backgrounds of some
of his pictures in 1668, indicate a constant companionship with the best
artists of the time. Wagen has said that his portrait of Admiral
Kortenaar, in the gallery of Amsterdam, betrays the teaching of Frans
Hals, and the statement need not be gainsaid; yet on the whole Van der
Helst's career as a painter was mainly a protest against the systems of
Hals and Rembrandt. It is needless to dwell on the pictures which
preceded that of 1648, called the Peace of Munster, in the gallery of
Amsterdam. The Peace challenges comparison at once with the so-called
Night Watch by Rembrandt and the less important but not less
characteristic portraits of Hals and his wife in a neighbouring room.
Sir Joshua Reynolds was disappointed by Rembrandt, whilst Van der Helst
surpassed his expectation. But Burger asked whether Reynolds had not
already been struck with blindness when he ventured on this criticism.
The question is still an open one. But certainly Van der Helst attracts
by qualities entirely differing from those of Rembrandt and Frans Hals.
Nothing can be more striking than the contrast between the strong
concentrated light and the deep gloom of Rembrandt and the contempt of
chiaroscuro peculiar to his rival, except the contrast between the
rapid sketchy touch of Hals and the careful finish and rounding of van
der Helst. "The Peace" is a meeting of guards to celebrate the signature
of the treaty of Munster. The members of the Doele of St George meet to
feast and congratulate each other not at a formal banquet but in a spot
laid out for good cheer, where de Wit, the captain of his company, can
shake hands with his lieutenant Waveren, yet hold in solemn state the
great drinking-horn of St George. The rest of the company sit, stand or
busy themselves around--some eating, others drinking, others carving or
serving--an animated scene on a long canvas, with figures large as life.
Well has Burger said, the heads are full of life and the hands
admirable. The dresses and subordinate parts are finished to a nicety
without sacrifice of detail or loss of breadth in touch or impast. But
the eye glides from shape to shape, arrested here by expressive
features, there by a bright stretch of colours, nowhere at perfect rest
because of the lack of a central thought in light and shade, harmonies
or composition. Great as the qualities of van der Helst undoubtedly are,
he remains below the line of demarcation which separates the second from
the first-rate masters of art.
His pictures are very numerous, and almost uniformly good; but in his
later creations he wants power, and though still amazingly careful, he
becomes grey and woolly in touch. At Amsterdam the four regents in the
Werkhuys (1650), four syndics in the gallery (1656), and four syndics
in the town-hall (1657) are masterpieces, to which may be added a
number of fine single portraits. Rotterdam, notwithstanding the fire
of 1864, still boasts of three of van der Helst's works. The Hague
owns but one. St Petersburg, on the other hand, possesses ten or
eleven, of various shades of excellence. The Louvre has three, Munich
four. Other pieces are in the galleries of Berlin, Brunswick,
Brussels, Carlsruhe, Cassel, Darmstadt, Dresden, Frankfort, Gotha,
Stuttgart and Vienna.
HELSTON, a market town and municipal borough in the Truro parliamentary
division of Cornwall, England, 11 m. by road W.S.W. of Falmouth, on a
branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 3088. It is pleasantly
situated on rising ground above the small river Cober, which, a little
below the town, expands into a picturesque estuary called Looe Pool, the
water being banked up by the formation of Looe Bar at the mouth.
Formerly, when floods resulted from this obstruction, the townsfolk of
Helston acquired the right of clearing a passage through it by
presenting leathern purses containing three halfpence to the lord of the
manor. The mining industry on which the town formerly depended is
extinct, but the district is agricultural and dairy farming is carried
on, while the town has flour mills, tanneries and iron foundries. As
Helston has the nearest railway station to the Lizard, with its
magnificent coast-scenery, there is a considerable tourist traffic in
summer. Some trade passes through the small port of Porthleven, 3 m.
S.W., where the harbour admits vessels of 500 tons. On the 8th of May a
holiday is still observed in Helston and known as Flora or Furry day. It
has been regarded as a survival of the Roman _Floralia_, but its origin
is believed by some to be Celtic. Flowers and branches were gathered,
and dancing took place in the streets and through the houses, all being
thrown open, while a pageant was also given and a special ancient
folk-song chanted. This ceremony, after being almost forgotten, has been
revived in modern times. The borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12
councillors. Area, 309 acres.
Helston (Henliston, Haliston, Helleston), the capital of the Meneage
district of Cornwall, was held by Earl Harold in the time of the
Confessor and by King William at the Domesday Survey. At the latter date
besides seventy-three villeins, bordars and serfs there were forty
_cervisarii_, a species of unfree tenants who rendered their custom in
the form of beer. King John (1201) constituted Helleston a free borough,
established a gild merchant, and granted the burgesses freedom from toll
and other similar dues throughout the realm, and the cognizance of all
pleas within the borough except crown pleas. Richard, king of the Romans
(1260), extended the boundaries of the borough and granted permission
for the erection of an additional mill. Edward I. (1304) granted the
pesage of tin, and Edward III. a Saturday market and four fairs. Of
these the Saturday market and a fair on the feast of SS. Simon and Jude
are still held, also five other fairs of uncertain origin. In 1585
Elizabeth granted a charter of incorporation under the name of the mayor
and commonalty of Helston. This was confirmed in 1641, when it was also
provided that the mayor and recorder should be _ipso facto_ justices of
the peace. From 1294 to 1832 Helston returned two members to parliament.
In 1774 the number of electors (which by usage had been restricted to
the mayor, aldermen and freemen elected by them) had dwindled to six,
and in 1790 to one person only, whose return of two members, however,
was rejected and that of the general body of the freemen accepted. In
1832 Helston lost one of its members, and in 1885 it lost the other and
became merged in the county.
HELVETIC CONFESSIONS, the name of two documents expressing the common
belief of the reformed churches of Switzerland. The first, known also as
the Second Confession of Basel, was drawn up at that city in 1536 by
Bullinger and Leo Jud of Zurich, Megander of Bern, Oswald Myconius and
Grynaeus of Basel, Bucer and Capito of Strassburg, with other
representatives from Schaffhausen, St Gall, Muhlhausen and Biel. The
first draft was in Latin and the Zurich delegates objected to its
Lutheran phraseology.[1] Leo Jud's German translation was, however,
accepted by all, and after Myconius and Grynaeus had modified the Latin
form, both versions were agreed to and adopted on the 26th of February
1536.
The Second Helvetic Confession was written by Bullinger in 1562 and
revised in 1564 as a private exercise. It came to the notice of the
elector palatine Friedrich III., who had it translated into German and
published. It gained a favourable hold on the Swiss churches, who had
found the First Confession too short and too Lutheran. It was adopted by
the Reformed Church not only throughout Switzerland but in Scotland
(1566), Hungary (1567), France (1571), Poland (1578), and next to the
Heidelberg Catechism is the most generally recognized Confession of the
Reformed Church.
See L. Thomas, _La Confession helvetique_ (Geneva, 1853); P. Schaff,
_Creeds of Christendom_, i. 390-420, iii. 234-306; Muller, _Die
Bekenntnisschriften der reformierten Kirche_ (Leipzig, 1903).
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Some of the delegates, especially Bucer, were anxious to effect a
union of the Reformed and Lutheran Churches. There was also a desire
to lay the Confession before the council summoned at Mantua by Pope
Paul III.
HELVETII ([Greek: Helouetioi], [Greek: Helbettioi]), a Celtic people,
whose original home was the country between the Hercynian forest
(probably the Rauhe Alp), the Rhine and the Main (Tacitus, _Germania_,
28). In Caesar's time they appear to have been driven farther west,
since, according to him (_Bell. Gall._ i. 2. 3) their boundaries were on
the W. the Jura, on the S. the Rhone and the Lake of Geneva, on the N.
and E. the Rhine as far as Lake Constance. They thus inhabited the
western part of modern Switzerland. They were divided into four cantons
(_pagi_), common affairs being managed by the cantonal assemblies. They
possessed the elements of a higher civilization (gold coinage, the Greek
alphabet), and, according to Caesar, were the bravest people of Gaul.
The reports of gold and plunder spread by the Cimbri and Teutones on
their way to southern Gaul induced the Helvetii to follow their example.
In 107, under Divico, two of their tribes, the Tougeni and Tigurini,
crossed the Jura and made their way as far as Aginnum (Agen on the
Garonne), where they utterly defeated the Romans under L. Cassius
Longinus, and forced them to pass under the yoke (Livy, _Epit._ 65;
according to a different reading, the battle took place near the Lake of
Geneva). In 102 the Helvetii joined the Cimbri in the invasion of Italy,
but after the defeat of the latter by Marius they returned home. In 58,
hard pressed by the Germans and incited by one of their princes,
Orgetorix, they resolved to found a hew home west of the Jura. Orgetorix
was thrown into prison, being suspected of a design to make himself
king, but the Helvetii themselves persisted in their plan. Joined by the
Rauraci, Tulingi, Latobrigi and some of the Boii--according to their own
reckoning 368,000 in all--they agreed to meet on the 28th of March at
Geneva and to advance through the territory of the Allobroges. They were
overtaken, however, by Caesar at Bibracte, defeated and forced to
submit. Those who survived were sent back home to defend the frontier of
the Rhine against German invaders. During the civil wars and for some
time after the death of Caesar little is heard of the Helvetii.
Under Augustus Helvetia (not so called till later times, earlier _ager
Helvetiorum_) proper was included under Gallia Belgica. Two Roman
colonies had previously been founded at Noviodunum (Colonia Julia
Equestris, mod. _Nyon_) and at Colonia Rauracorum (afterwards Augusta
Rauracorum, _Augst_ near Basel) to keep watch over the inhabitants, who
were treated with generosity by their conquerors. Under the name of
_foederati_ they retained their original constitution and division into
four cantons. They were under an obligation to furnish a contingent to
the Roman army for foreign service, but were allowed to maintain
garrisons of their own, and their magistrates had the right to call out
a militia. Their religion was not interfered with; they managed their
own local affairs and kept their own language, although Latin was used
officially. Their chief towns were Aventicum (_Avenches_) and Vindonissa
(_Windisch_). Under Tiberius the Helvetii were separated from Gallia
Belgica and made part of Germania Superior. After the death of Galba
(A.D. 69), having refused submission to Vitellius, their land was
devastated by Alienus Caecina, and only the eloquent appeal of one of
their leaders named Claudius Cossus saved them from annihilation. Under
Vespasian they attained the height of their prosperity. He greatly
increased the importance of Aventicum, where his father had carried on
business. Its inhabitants, with those of other towns, probably obtained
the _ius Latinum_, had a senate, a council of _decuriones_, a prefect of
public works and flamens of Augustus. After the extension of the eastern
frontier, the troops were withdrawn from the garrisons and fortresses,
and Helvetia, free from warlike disturbances, gradually became
completely romanized. Aventicum had an amphitheatre, a public gymnasium
and an academy with Roman professors. Roads were made wherever possible,
and commerce rapidly developed. The old Celtic religion was also
supplanted by the Roman. The west of the country, however, was more
susceptible to Roman influence, and hence preserved its independence
against barbarian invaders longer than its eastern portion. During the
reign of Gallienus (260-268) the Alamanni overran the country; and
although Probus, Constantius Chlorus, Julian, Valentinian I. and Gratian
to some extent checked the inroads of the barbarians, it never regained
its former prosperity. In the subdivision of Gaul in the 4th century,
Helvetia, with the territory of the Sequani and Rauraci, formed the
Provincia Maxima Sequanorum, the chief town of which was Vesontio
(_Besancon_). Under Honorius (395-423) it was probably definitely
occupied by the Alamanni, except in the west, where the small portion
remaining to the Romans was ceded in 436 by Aetius to the Burgundians.
See L. von Haller, _Helvetien unter den Romern_ (Bern, 1811); T.
Mommsen, _Die Schweiz in romischer Zeit_ (Zurich, 1854); J. Brosi,
_Die Kelten und Althelvetier_ (Solothurn, 1851); L. Hug and R. Stead,
"Switzerland" in _Story of the Nations_, xxvi.; C. Dandliker,
_Geschichte der Schweiz_ (1892-1895), and English translation (of a
shorter history by the same) by E. Salisbury (1899); _Die Schweiz
unter den Romern_ (anonymous) published by the Historischer Verein of
St Gall (Scheitlin and Zollikofer, St Gall, 1862); and G. Wyss, "Uber
das romische Helvetien" in _Archiv fur schweizerische Geschichte_,
vii. (1851). For Caesar's campaign against the Helvetii, see T. R.
Holmes, _Caesar's Conquest of Gaul_ (1899) and Mommsen, _Hist. of
Rome_ (Eng. trans.), bk. v. ch. 7; ancient authorities in A. Holder,
_Altkeltischer Sprachschatz_ (1896), _s.v._ Elvetii.