also HORUS.
See Ursinus, _De Zoroastre, Hermete_, &c. (Nuremberg, 1661); Nicolas
Lenglet-Dufresnoy, _L'Histoire de la philosophie hermetique_ (Paris,
1742); Baumgarten-Crusius, _De librorum hermeticorum origine atque
indole_ (Jena, 1827); B. J. Hilgers, _De Hermetis Trismegisti
Poemandro_ (1855); R. Menard, _Hermes Trismegiste, traduction
complete, precedee d'une etude sur l'origine des livres hermetiques_
(1866); R. Pietschmann, _Hermes Trismegistus, nach agyptischen,
griechischen, und orientalischen Uberlieferungen_ (1875); R.
Reitzenstein, _Poimandres, Studien zur griechisch-agyptischen und
fruhchristlichen Literatur_ (Leipzig, 1904); G. R. S. Mead, _Thrice
Greatest Hermes_ (1907), introduction and translation. (F. Ll. G.)
HERMESIANAX, of Colophon, elegiac poet of the Alexandrian school,
flourished about 330 B.C. His chief work was a poem in three books,
dedicated to his mistress Leontion. Of this poem a fragment of about one
hundred lines has been preserved by Athenaeus (xiii. 597). Plaintive in
tone, it enumerates instances, mythological and historical, of the
irresistible power of love. Hermesianax, whose style is characterized by
alternate force and tenderness, was exceedingly popular in his own
times, and was highly esteemed even in the Augustan period.
Many separate editions have been published of the fragment, the text
of which is in a very unsatisfactory condition: by F. W. Schneidewin
(1838), J. Bailey (1839, with notes, glossary, and Latin and English
versions), and others; R. Schulze's _Quaestiones Hermesianacteae_
(1858), contains an account of the life and writings of the poet and a
section on the identity of Leontion.
HERMIAS. (1) A Greek philosopher of the Alexandrian school. A disciple
of Proclus, he was known best for the lucidity of his method rather than
for any original ideas. His chief works were a study of the _Isagoge_ of
Porphyry and a commentary on Plato's _Phaedrus_. Unlike the majority of
logicians of the time, he admitted the absolute validity of the second
and third figures of the syllogism.
(2) A Christian apologist and philosopher who flourished probably in the
4th and 5th centuries. Nothing is known about his life, but there has
been preserved of his writings a small thesis entitled [Greek: Diasyrmos
ton exophilosophon]. In this work he attacked pagan philosophy for its
lack of logic in dealing with the root problems of life, the soul, the
cosmos and the first cause or vital principle. There is an edition by
von Otto published in the _Corpus apologetarum_ (Jena, 1872). It is
interesting, but without any claim to profundity of reasoning.
Two minor philosophers of the same name are known. Of these, one was a
disciple of Plato and a friend of Aristotle; he became tyrant of
Atarneus and invited Aristotle to his court. Aristotle subsequently
married Pythias, who was either niece or sister of Hermias. Another
Hermias was a Phoenician philosopher of the Alexandrian school; when
Justinian closed the school of Athens, he was one of the five
representatives of the school who took refuge at the Persian court.
HERMIPPUS, "the one-eyed," Athenian writer of the Old Comedy, flourished
during the Peloponnesian War. He is said to have written 40 plays, of
which the titles and fragments of nine are preserved. He was a bitter
opponent of Pericles, whom he accused (probably in the [Greek: Moirai])
of being a bully and a coward, and of carousing with his boon companions
while the Lacedaemonians were invading Attica. He also accused Aspasia
of impiety and offences against morality, and her acquittal was only
secured by the tears of Pericles (Plutarch, _Pericles_, 32). In the
[Greek: Artopolides] ("Bakeresses") he attacked the demagogue
Hyperbolus. The [Greek: Phormophoroi] (Mat-carriers) contains many
parodies of Homer. Hermippus also appears to have written scurrilous
iambic poems after the manner of Archilochus.
Fragments in T. Kock, _Comicorum Atticorum fragmenta_, i. (1880), and
A. Meineke, _Poetarum Graecorum comicorum fragmenta_ (1855).
HERMIT, a solitary, one who withdraws from all intercourse with other
human beings in order to live a life of religious contemplation, and so
marked off from a "coenobite" (Gr. [Greek: koinos], common, and [Greek:
Bios], life), one who shares this life of withdrawal with others in a
community (see ASCETICISM and MONASTICISM). The word "hermit" is an
adaptation through the O. Fr. _ermite_ or _hermite_, from the Lat. form,
_eremite_, of the Gr. [Greek: eremites], a solitary, from [Greek:
eremia], a desert. The English form "eremite," which was used, according
to the _New English Dictionary_, quite indiscriminately with "hermit"
till the middle of the 17th century, is now chiefly used in poetry or
rhetorically, except with reference to the early hermits of the Libyan
desert, or sometimes to such particular orders as the eremites of St
Augustine (see AUGUSTINIAN HERMITS). Another synonym is "anchoret" or
"anchorite." This comes through the French and Latin forms from the Gr.
[Greek: anachoretes], from [Greek: anachorein], to withdraw. A form
nearer to the Greek original, "anachoret," is sometimes used of the
early Christian recluses in the East.
HERMOGENES, of Tarsus, Greek rhetorician, surnamed [Greek: Xuster] (the
polisher), flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-180).
His precocious ability secured him a public appointment as teacher of
his art while as yet he was only a boy; but at the age of twenty-five
his faculties gave way, and he spent the remainder of his long life in a
state of intellectual impotence. During his early years, however, he had
composed a series of rhetorical treatises, which became popular
text-books, and the subject of subsequent commentaries. Of his [Greek:
Techne rhetorike] we still possess the sections [Greek: Peri ton
staseon] (on legal issues), [Greek: Peri heureseos] (on the invention of
arguments), [Greek: Peri ideon] (on the various kinds of style), [Greek:
Peri methodou deinotetos] (on the method of speaking effectively), and
[Greek: Progymnasmata] (rhetorical exercises).
Editions by C. Walz (1832), and by L. Spengel (1854), in their
_Rhetores Graeci_; bibliographical note on the commentaries in W.
Christ, _Geschichte der griechischen Literatur_ (1898).
HERMON, the highest mountain in Syria (estimated at 9050 to 9200 ft.),
an outlier of the Anti-Lebanon. As the Hebrew name ([Hebrew: Hermon],
"belonging to a sanctuary," "separate") shows, it was always a sacred
mountain. The Sidonians called it _Sirion_, and the Amorites _Shenir_
(Deut. iii. 9). According to one theory it is the "high mountain" near
Caesarea Philippi, which was the scene of the Transfiguration (Mark ix.
2). A curious reference in Enoch vi. 6, says that in the days of Jared
the wicked angels descended on the summit of the mountain and named it
Hermon. The modern name is _Jebel es-Sheikh_, or "mountain of the chief
or elder." It is also called _Jebel eth-Thelj_, "snowy mountain." The
ridge of Hermon, rising into a dome-shaped summit, is 20 m. long,
extending north-east and south-west. The formation of the lower part is
Nubian sandstone, that of the upper part is a hard dark-grey crystalline
limestone belonging to the Neocomian period, and full of fossils. The
spurs consist in some cases of white chalk covering the limestone, and
on the south there are several basaltic outbreaks. The view from Hermon
is very extensive, embracing all Lebanon and the plains east of
Damascus, with Palestine as far as Carmel and Tabor. On a clear day
Jaffa also may be seen. The mountain in spring is covered with snow, but
in autumn there is occasionally none left, even in the ravines. To the
height of 500 ft. it is clothed with oaks, poplars and brush, while
luxuriant vineyards abound. Foxes, wolves and Syrian bears are not
infrequently met with, and there is a heavy dew or night mist. Above the
snow-limit the mountain is bare and covered with fine limestone shingle.
The summit is a plateau from which three rocky knolls rise up, that on
the west being the lowest, that on the south-east the highest. On the
south slope of the latter are remains of a small temple or _sacellum_
described by St Jerome. A semicircular dwarf wall of good masonry runs
round this peak, and a trench excavated in the rock may perhaps indicate
the site of an altar. On the plateau is a cave about 25 ft. sq. with the
entrance on the east. A rock column supports the roof, and a building
(possibly a Mithraeum) once stood above. Other small temples are found
on the sides of Hermon, of which twelve in all have been explored. They
face the east and are dated by architects about A.D. 200. The most
remarkable are those of Deir el 'Ashaiyir, Hibbariyeh, Hosn Niha and
Tell Thatha. At the ruined town called Rukleh on the northern slopes are
remains of a temple, the stones of which have been built into a church.
A large medallion, 5 ft. in diameter, with a head supposed to represent
the sun-god, is built into the wall. Several Greek inscriptions occur
among these ruins. In the 12th century Psalm lxxxix. 12 was supposed to
indicate the proximity of Hermon to Tabor. The conical hill immediately
south of Tabor was thus named Little Hermon, and is still so called by
some of the inhabitants of the district.
HERMSDORF, a village of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia.
Pop. (1900) 10,975. There are coal and iron mines and lime quarries in
the vicinity, and in the town there are large iron-works. Hermsdorf is
known as Niederhermsdorf to distinguish it from other places of the same
name. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is a village in Silesia at
the foot of the Riesengebirge, chiefly famous for the ruins of the
castle of Kynast. This castle, formerly the seat of the Schaffgotsch
family, was destroyed by lightning in 1675. A third Hermsdorf is a
village in Saxe-Altenburg, where porcelain is made.
HERNE, JAMES A. [originally AHERNE] (1840-1901), American actor and
playwright, was born in Troy, New York, and after theatrical experiences
in various companies produced his own first play, _Hearts of Oak_, in
1878, and his great success _Shore Acres_ in 1882. It was in rural drama
that his humour and pathos found their proper setting, and _Shore Acres_
was seen throughout the United States almost continuously for six
seasons, being followed by the less successful _Sag Harbor_, 1900.
HERNE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, 15 m.
by rail N.W. of Dortmund. Pop. (1905) 33,258. It has coal mines,
boiler-works, gunpowder mills, &c. Herne was made a town in 1897.
HERNE BAY, a seaside resort in the St Augustine's parliamentary division
of Kent, England, 8 m. N. by E. of Canterbury, on the South Eastern and
Chatham railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6726. It has grown up
since 1830, above a sandy and pebbly shore, and has a pier 3/4 m. long.
The church of St Martin in the village of Herne, 1(1/2) m. inland, is
Early English and later; the living was held by Nicholas Ridley (1538),
afterwards Bishop of London. At Reculver, 3 m. E. of Herne Bay on the
coast, is the site of the Roman station of _Regulbium_. The fortress
occupied about 8 acres, but only traces of the south and east walls
remain. In Saxon times it was converted into a palace by King Ethelbert,
and in 669 a monastery was founded here by Egbert. The Early English
church was taken down early in the 19th century owing to the
encroachment of the sea, and parts of its fabric were preserved in the
modern church of St Mary. But its twin towers, known as the Sisters from
the tradition that they were built by a Benedictine abbess of Faversham
in memory of her sister, were preserved by Trinity House as a
conspicuous landmark.
HERNE THE HUNTER, a legendary huntsman who was alleged to haunt Windsor
Great Park at night, especially around an aged tree, long known as
Herne's oak, said to be nearly 700 years old. This was blown down in
1863, and a young oak was planted by Queen Victoria on the spot. Herne
has his French counterpart in the _Grand Veneur_ of Fontainebleau.
Mention is made of Herne in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ and in Harrison
Ainsworth's _Windsor Castle_. Nothing definite is known of the Herne
legend. It is suggested that it originated in the life-story of some
keeper of the forest; but more probably it is only a variant of the
"Wild Huntsman" myth common to folk-lore, which (E. B. Tylor, _Primitive
Culture_, 4th ed. pp. 361-362) is almost certainly the modern form of a
prehistoric storm-myth.
HERNIA (Lat. _hernia_, perhaps from Gr. [Greek: ernos], a sprout), in
surgery, the protrusion of a viscus, or part of a viscus, from its
normal cavity; thus, _hernia cerebri_ is a protrusion of
brain-substance, _hernia pulmonum_, a protrusion of a portion of lung,
and _hernia iridis_, a protrusion of some of the iris through an
aperture in the cornea. But, used by itself, hernia implies a protrusion
from the abdominal cavity, or, in common language, a "rupture." A
rupture may occur at any weak point in the abdominal wall. The common
situations are the groin (_inguinal hernia_), the upper part of the
thigh (_femoral hernia_), and the navel (_umbilical hernia_). The more
movable the viscus the greater the liability to protrusion, and
therefore one commonly finds some of the small intestine, or of the
fatty apron (omentum), in the hernia. The tumour may contain intestine
alone (enterocele), omentum alone (epiplocele), or both intestine and
omentum (entero-epiplocele). The predisposing cause of rupture is
abnormal length of the suspensory membrane of the bowel (the mesentery),
or of the omentum, in conjunction with some weak spot in the abdominal
wall, as in an inguinal hernia, which descends along the canal in which
the spermatic cord lies in the male and the round ligament of the womb
in the female. A femoral hernia comes through a weak spot in the abdomen
to the inner side of the great femoral vessels; a ventral hernia takes
place by the yielding of the scar tissue left after an operation for
appendicitis or ovarian disease. The exciting cause of hernia is
generally some over-exertion, as in lifting a heavy weight, jumping off
a high wall, straining (as in difficult micturition), constipation or
excessive coughing. The pressure of the diaphragm above and the
abdominal wall in front acting on the abdominal viscera causes a
protrusion at the weakest point.
Rupture is either congenital or acquired. A child may be born with a
hernia in the inguinal or umbilical region, the result of an arrest of
development in these parts; or the rupture may be acquired, first
appearing, perhaps, in adult life as the result of a strain or hurt. Men
suffer more frequently than women, because of their physical labours,
because they are more liable to accidents, and because of the passage
for the spermatic cord out of the abdomen being more spacious than that
for the round ligament of the womb.
At first the rupture is small, and it gradually increases in bulk. It
varies from the size of a marble to a child's head. The swelling
consists of three parts--the coverings, sac and contents. The
"coverings" are the structures which form the abdominal wall at the part
where the rupture occurs. In femoral hernia the coverings are the
structures at the upper part of the thigh which are stretched, thinned
and matted together as the result of pressure; in other cases there is
an increase in their thickness, the result of repeated attacks of
inflammation. The "sac" is composed of the peritoneum or membrane lining
the abdominal cavity; in some rare cases the sac is wanting. The neck of
the sac is the narrowed portion where the peritoneum forming the sac
becomes continuous with the general peritoneal cavity. The neck of the
sac is often thickened, indurated and adherent to surrounding parts, the
result of chronic inflammation. The "contents" are bowel, omental fat,
or, in children, an ovary.
The hernia may be reducible, irreducible or strangulated. A "reducible"
hernia is one in which the contents can be pushed back into the abdomen.
In some cases this reduction is effected with ease, in others it is a
matter of great difficulty. At any moment a reducible hernia may become
"irreducible," that is to say, it cannot be pushed back into the
abdominal cavity, perhaps because of inflammatory adhesions in and
around the fatty contents, or because of extra fullness of the bowel in
the sac. A "strangulated" hernia is one in which the circulation of the
blood through the hernial contents is interfered with, by the pinching
at the narrowest part of the passage. The interference is at first
slight, but it quickly becomes more pronounced; the pinched bowel in the
hernial sac swells as a finger does when a string is tightly wound round
its base. At first there is congestion, and this may go on to
inflammation, to infection by micro-organisms and to mortification. The
rapidity with which the change from simple congestion to mortification
takes place depends on the tightness of the constriction, and on the
virulence of the bacterial infection from the bowel. As a rule, the more
rapidly a hernia forms the greater the rapidity of serious change in the
conditions of the bowel or omentum, and the more urgent are the
symptoms. The constricting band may be one of the structures which form
the boundaries of the openings through which the hernia has travelled,
or it may be the neck of the sac, which has become thickened in
consequence of inflammation--especially is this the case in an inguinal
hernia.
_Reducible Hernia._--With a reducible hernia there is a soft
compressible tumour (elastic when it contains intestine, doughy when it
contains omentum), its size increasing in the erect, and diminishing in
the horizontal posture. As a rule, it causes no trouble during the
night. It gives an impulse on coughing, and when the intestinal contents
are pushed back into the abdomen a gurgling sensation is perceptible by
the fingers. Such a tumour may be met with in any part of the abdominal
wall, but the chief situations are as follows. The inguinal region, in
which the neck of the tumour lies immediately above Poupart's ligament
(a cord-like ligamentous structure which can be felt stretching from the
front of the hip-bone to a ridge of bone immediately above the genital
organs); the femoral region, in the upper part of the thigh, in which
the neck of the sac lies immediately below the inner end of Poupart's
ligament; the umbilical region, in which the tumour appears at or near
the navel. As the inguinal hernia increases in size it passes into the
scrotum in the male, into the labium in the female; while the femoral
hernia gradually pushes upwards to the abdomen.
The palliative treatment of a reducible hernia consists in pushing back
the contents of the tumour into the abdomen and applying a truss or
elastic bandage to prevent their again escaping. The younger the patient
the more chance there is of the truss acting as a curative agent. The
truss may generally be left off at night, but it should be put on in the
morning before the patient leaves his bed. If, after the hernia has been
once returned, it is not allowed again to come down, there is a
probability of an actual cure taking place; but if it is allowed to come
down occasionally, as it may do, even during the night, in consequence
of a cough, or from the patient turning suddenly in bed, the weak spot
is again opened out, and the improvement which might have been going on
for weeks is undone. It is sometimes found impossible to keep up a
hernia by means of a truss, and an operation becomes necessary. The
operation is spoken of as "the radical treatment of hernia," in
contra-distinction to the so-called "palliative treatment" by means of a
truss. It should not be spoken of as the radical cure, for skilfully as
the operation may have been performed it is not always a cure. The
principles involved in the operation are the emptying of the sac and its
entire removal, and the closure of the opening into the abdomen by
strong sutures; and, in this way, great advance has been made by modern
surgery. Without tiresome delay, and the tedious and sometimes
disappointing application of trusses, the weak spot in the abdominal
wall is exposed, the sac of the hernia is tied and removed, and the
canal by which the rupture descended is blockaded by buried sutures, and
with no material risk to life. Thus the patient's worries become a thing
of the past, and he is rendered a fit and normal member of society.
Experience has shown that very few ruptures are unsuited for successful
treatment by operation. No boy should now be sent to school compelled to
wear a truss, and so hindered in his games and rendered an object of
remark.
_Irreducible Hernia._--The main symptom is a tumour in one of the
situations already referred to, of long standing and perhaps of large
size, in which the contents of the tumour, in whole or in part, cannot
be pushed back into the abdomen. The irreducibility is due either to its
large size or to changes which have taken place by indurations or
adhesions. Such a tumour is a constant source of danger: its contents
are liable, from their exposed situation, to injury from external
violence; it has a constant risk of increase; it may at any time become
strangulated, or the contents may inflame, and strangulation may occur
secondarily to the inflammation. It gives rise to dragging sensations
(referred to the abdomen), colic, dyspepsia and constipation, which may
lead to obstruction, that is to say, a stoppage may occur of the passage
of the contents of that portion of the intestinal canal which lies in
the hernia. When an irreducible hernia becomes painful and tender, a
local peritonitis has occurred, which resembles in many of its symptoms
a case of strangulation, and must be regarded with suspicion and
anxiety. Indeed, the only safe treatment is by operation.
The treatment of irreducible hernia may be palliative; a "bag truss" may
be worn in the hope of preventing the hernia getting larger; the bowels
must be kept open, and all irregularities of diet avoided. A person with
such a hernia is in constant danger, and if his general condition does
not contra-indicate it he should be submitted to operative treatment.
That is to say, the surgeon should cut down on the hernia, open the sac,
divide any omental adhesions, tie and cut away indurated omentum, return
the bowel, and complete the radical operation by closing the aperture by
strong sutures.
In _Strangulated Hernia_ the bowel or omentum is being nipped at the
neck of the sac, and the flow of blood into and from the delicate
tissues is stopped. The symptoms are--nausea, vomiting of bilious
matter, and after a time of faecal-smelling matter; a twisting, burning
pain generally referred to the region of the navel, intestinal
obstruction; a quick, wiry pulse and pain on pressure over the tumour;
the expression grows anxious, the abdomen becomes tense and drum-like,
and there is no impulse in the tumour on coughing, because its contents
are practically pinched off from the general abdominal cavity. Sometimes
there is complete absence of pain and tenderness in the hernia itself,
and in an aged person all the symptoms may be very slight. Sooner or
later, from eight hours to eight days, if the strangulation is
unrelieved, the tumour becomes livid, crackling with gas, mortification
of the bowel at the neck of the sac takes place, followed by
extravasation of the intestinal contents into the abdominal cavity; the
patient has hiccough; he becomes collapsed; and dies comatose from
blood-poisoning.