[1] The word is used in modern Icelandic metaphorically of an
imbecile or weak-minded person (see Cleasby and Vigfusson,
_Icelandic-English Dictionary_, 1869).
[2] "'Tis said that far out, off yonder ness, the Nine Maids of the
Island Mill stir amain the host--cruel skerry-quern--they who in ages
past ground Hamlet's meal. The good Chieftain furrows the hull's lair
with his ship's beaked prow." This passage may be compared with some
examples of Hamlet's cryptic sayings quoted by Saxo: "Again, as he
passed along the beach, his companions found the rudder of a ship
which had been wrecked, and said they had discovered a huge knife.
'This,' said he, 'was the right thing to carve such a huge ham....'
Also, as they passed the sand-hills, and bade him look at the meal,
meaning the sand, he replied that it had been ground small by the
hoary tempests of the ocean."
[3] Books iii. and iv., chaps. 86-106, Eng. trans. by O. Elton
(London, 1894).
[4] Printed in Fornaldar Sogur Northtrlanda (vol. i. Copenhagen,
1829), analysed by F. Detter in _Zeitschr. fur deutsches Altertum_
(vol. 36, Berlin, 1892).
[5] Printed with English translation and with other texts germane to
the subject by I. Gollancz (_Hamlet in Iceland_, London, 1898).
[6] Professor I. Gollancz points out (p. lxix.) that Brjam is a
variation of the Irish Brian, that the relations between Ireland and
the Norsemen were very close, and that, curiously enough, Brian
Boroimhe was the hero of that very battle of Clontarf (1014) where
the device (which occurs in Havelok and Hamlet) of bluffing the enemy
by tying the wounded to stakes to represent active soldiers was used.
[7] "Hamlet in Iran," in _Zeitschrift des Vereins fur Volkskunde_, x.
(Berlin, 1900).
[8] See A. B. Gough, _The Constance Saga_ (Berlin, 1902).
HAMLEY, SIR EDWARD BRUCE (1824-1893), British general and military
writer, youngest son of Vice-Admiral William Hamley, was born on the
27th of April 1824 at Bodmin, Cornwall, and entered the Royal Artillery
in 1843. He was promoted captain in 1850, and in 1851 went to Gibraltar,
where he commenced his literary career by contributing articles to
magazines. He served throughout the Crimean campaign as aide-de-camp to
Sir Richard Dacres, commanding the artillery, taking part in all the
operations with distinction, and becoming successively major and
lieutenant-colonel by brevet. He also received the C.B. and French and
Turkish orders. During the war he contributed to _Blackwood's Magazine_
an admirable account of the progress of the campaign, which was
afterwards republished. The combination in Hamley of literary and
military ability secured for him in 1859 the professorship of military
history at the new Staff College at Sandhurst, from which in 1866 he
went to the council of military education, returning in 1870 to the
Staff College as commandant. From 1879 to 1881 he was British
commissioner successively for the delimitation of the frontiers of
Turkey and Bulgaria, Turkey in Asia and Russia, and Turkey and Greece,
and was rewarded with the K.C.M.G. Promoted colonel in 1863, he became a
lieutenant-general in 1882, when he commanded the 2nd division of the
expedition to Egypt under Lord Wolseley, and led his troops in the
battle of Tell-el-Kebir, for which he received the K.C.B., the thanks of
parliament, and 2nd class of Osmanieh. Hamley considered that his
services in Egypt had been insufficiently recognized in Lord Wolseley's
despatches, and expressed his indignation freely, but he had no
sufficient ground for supposing that there was any intention to belittle
his services. From 1885 until his death on the 12th of August 1893 he
represented Birkenhead in parliament in the Conservative interest.
Hamley was a clever and versatile writer. His principal work, _The
Operations of War_, published in 1867, became a text-book of military
instruction. He published some pamphlets on national defence, was a
frequent contributor to magazines, and the author of several novels,
of which perhaps the best known is _Lady Lee's Widowhood_.
HAMLIN, HANNIBAL (1809-1891), vice-president of the United States
(1861-1865), was born at Paris, Maine, on the 27th of August 1809. After
studying in Hebron Academy, he conducted his father's farm for a time,
became schoolmaster, and later managed a weekly newspaper at Paris. He
then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1833, and rapidly acquired
a reputation as an able lawyer and a good public speaker. Entering
politics as an anti-slavery Democrat, he was a member of the state
House of Representatives in 1836-1840, serving as its presiding officer
during the last four years. He was a representative in Congress from
1843 to 1847, and was a member of the United States Senate from 1848 to
1856. From the very beginning of his service in Congress he was
prominent as an opponent of the extension of slavery; he was a
conspicuous supporter of the Wilmot Proviso, spoke against the
Compromise Measures of 1850, and in 1856, chiefly because of the passage
in 1854 of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which repealed the Missouri
Compromise, and his party's endorsement of that repeal at the Cincinnati
Convention two years later, he withdrew from the Democrats and joined
the newly organized Republican party. The Republicans of Maine nominated
him for governor in the same year, and having carried the election by a
large majority he was inaugurated in this office on the 8th of January
1857. In the latter part of February, however, he resigned the
governorship, and was again a member of the Senate from 1857 to January
1861. From 1861 to 1865, during the Civil War, he was Vice-President of
the United States. While in this office he was one of the chief advisers
of President Lincoln, and urged both the Emancipation Proclamation and
the arming of the negroes. After the war he again served in the Senate
(1869-1881), was minister to Spain (1881-1883), and then retired from
public life. He died at Bangor, Maine, on the 4th of July 1891.
See _Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin_ (Cambridge, Mass., 1899), by
C. E. Hamlin, his grandson.
HAMM, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, on the
Lippe, 19 m. by rail N.E. from Dortmund on the main line
Cologne-Hanover. Pop. (1905) 38,430. It is surrounded by pleasant
promenades occupying the site of the former engirdling fortifications.
The principal buildings are four Roman Catholic and three Evangelical
churches, several schools and an infirmary. The town is flourishing and
rapidly increasing, and possesses very extensive wire factories (in
connexion with which there are puddling and rolling works), machine
works, and manufactories of gloves, baskets, leather, starch, chemicals,
varnish, oil and beer. Near the town are some thermal baths.
Hamm, which became a town about the end of the 12th century, was
originally the capital of the countship of Mark, and was fortified in
1226. It became a member of the Hanseatic League. In 1614 it was
besieged by the Dutch, and it was several times taken and retaken during
the Thirty Years' War. In 1666 it came into the possession of
Brandenburg. In 1761 and 1762 it was bombarded by the French, and in
1763 its fortifications were dismantled.
HAMMAD AR-RAWIYA [Abu-l-Qasim Hammad ibn Abi Laila Sapur (or ibn
Maisara)] (8th century A.D.), Arabic scholar, was of Dailamite descent,
but was born in Kufa. The date of his birth is given by some as 694, by
others as 714. He was reputed to be the most learned man of his time in
regard to the "days of the Arabs" (i.e. their chief battles), their
stories, poems, genealogies and dialects. He is said to have boasted
that he could recite a hundred long _qasidas_ for each letter of the
alphabet (i.e. rhyming in each letter) and these all from pre-Islamic
times, apart from shorter pieces and later verses. Hence his name
_Hammad ar-Rawiya_, "the reciter of verses from memory." The Omayyad
caliph Walid is said to have tested him, the result being that he
recited 2900 qasidas of pre-Islamic date and Walid gave him 100,000
dirhems. He was favoured by Yazid II. and his successor Hisham, who
brought him up from Irak to Damascus. Arabian critics, however, say that
in spite of his learning he lacked a true insight into the genius of the
Arabic language, and that he made more than thirty--some say three
hundred--mistakes of pronunciation in reciting the Koran. To him is
ascribed the collecting of the _Mo'allakat_ (q.v.). No diwan of his is
extant, though he composed verse of his own and probably a good deal of
what he ascribed to earlier poets.
Biography in McG. de Slane's trans. of Ibn Khallikan, vol. i. pp.
470-474, and many stories are told of him in the _Kitab ul-Aghani_,
vol. v. pp. 164-175. (G. W. T.)
HAMMER, FRIEDRICH JULIUS (1810-1862), German poet, was born on the 7th
of June 1810 at Dresden. In 1831 he went to Leipzig to study law, but
devoted himself mainly to philosophy and belles lettres. Returning to
Dresden in 1834 a small comedy, _Das seltsame Fruhstuck_, introduced him
to the literary society of the capital, notably to Ludwig Tieck, and
from this time he devoted himself entirely to writing. In 1837 he
returned to Leipzig, and, coming again to Dresden, from 1851 to 1859
edited the feuilleton of _Sachsische konstitutionelle Zeitung_, and took
the lead in the foundation in 1855 of the Schiller Institute in Dresden.
His marriage in 1851 had made him independent, and he bought a small
property at Pillnitz, on which, soon after his return from a residence
of several years at Nuremberg, he died, on the 23rd of August 1862.
Hammer wrote, besides several comedies, a drama _Die Bruder_ (1856), a
number of unimportant romances, and the novel _Einkehr und Umkehr_
(Leipzig, 1856); but his reputation rests upon his epigrammatic and
didactic poems. His _Schau' um dich, und schau' in dich_ (1851), which
made his name, has passed through more than thirty editions. It was
followed by _Zu allen guten Stunden_ (1854), _Fester Grund_ (1857), _Auf
stillen Wegen_ (1859), and _Lerne, liebe, lebe_ (1862). Besides these he
wrote a book of Turkish songs, _Unter dem Halbmond_ (Leipzig, 1860), and
rhymed versions of the psalms (1861), and compiled the popular religious
anthology _Leben und Heimat in Gott_, of which a 14th edition was
published in 1900.
See C. G. E. Am Ende, _Julius Hammer_ (Nuremberg, 1872).
HAMMER, an implement consisting of a shaft or handle with head fixed
transversely to it. The head, usually of metal, has one flat face, the
other may be shaped to serve various purposes, e.g. with a claw, a pick,
&c. The implement is used for breaking, beating, driving nails, rivets,
&c., and the word is applied to heavy masses of metal moved by
machinery, and used for similar purposes. (See TOOL.) "Hammer" is a word
common to Teutonic languages. It appears in the same form in German and
Danish, and in Dutch as _hamer_, in Swedish as _hammare_. The ultimate
origin is unknown. It has been connected with the root seen in the Greek
[Greek: kamptein], to bend; the word would mean, therefore, something
crooked or bent. A more illuminating suggestion connects the word with
the Slavonic _kamy_, a stone, cf. Russian _kamen_, and ultimately with
Sanskrit _acman_, a pointed stone, a thunderbolt. The legend of Thor's
hammer, the thunderbolt, and the probability of the primitive hammer
being a stone, adds plausibility to this derivation. The word is applied
to many objects resembling a hammer in shape or function. Thus the
"striker" in a clock, or in a bell, when it is sounded by an independent
lever and not by the swinging of the "tongue," is called a "hammer";
similarly, in the "action" of a pianoforte the word is used of a wooden
shank with felt-covered head attached to a key, the striking of which
throws the "hammer" against the strings. In the mechanism of a fire-arm,
the "hammer" is that part which by its impact on the cap or primer
explodes the charge. (See GUN.) The hammer, more usually known by its
French name of _martel de fer_, was a medieval hand-weapon. With a long
shaft it was used by infantry, especially when acting against mounted
troops. With a short handle and usually made altogether of metal, it was
also used by horse-soldiers. The _martel_ had one part of the head with
a blunted face, the other pointed, but occasionally both sides were
pointed. There are 16th century examples in which a hand-gun forms the
handle. The name of "hammer," in Latin _malleus_, has been frequently
applied to men, and also to books, with reference to destructive power.
Thus on the tomb of Edward I. in Westminster Abbey is inscribed his name
of _Scotorum Malleus_, the "Hammer of the Scots." The title of "Hammer
of Heretics," _Malleus Haereticorum_, has been given to St Augustine and
to Johann Faber, whose tract against Luther is also known by the name.
Thomas Cromwell was styled _Malleus Monachorum_. The famous text-book of
procedure in cases of witchcraft, published by Sprenger and Kramer in
1489, was called _Hexenhammer_ or _Malleus Maleficarum_ (see
WITCHCRAFT).
The origin of the word "hammer-cloth," an ornamental cloth covering the
box-seat on a state-coach, has been often explained from the hammer and
other tools carried in the box-seat by the coachman for repairs, &c. The
_New English Dictionary_ points out that while the word occurs as early
as 1465, the use of a box-seat is not known before the 17th century.
Other suggestions are that it is a corruption of "hamper-cloth," or of
"hammock-cloth," which is used in this sense, probably owing to a
mistake. Neither of these supposed corruptions helps very much. Skeat
connects the word with a Dutch word _hemel_, meaning a canopy. In the
name of the bird, the yellow-hammer, the latter part should be "ammer."
This appears in the German name, _Emmerling_, and the word probably
means the "chirper," cf. the Ger. _jammern_, to wail, lament.
HAMMERBEAM ROOF, in architecture, the name given to a Gothic open timber
roof, of which the finest example is that over Westminster Hall
(1395-1399). In order to give greater height in the centre, the ordinary
tie beam is cut through, and the portions remaining, known as
hammerbeams, are supported by curved braces from the wall; in
Westminster Hall, in order to give greater strength to the framing, a
large arched piece of timber is carried across the hall, rising from the
bottom of the wall piece to the centre of the collar beam, the latter
being also supported by curved braces rising from the end of the
hammerbeam. The span of Westminster Hall is 68 ft. 4 in., and the
opening between the ends of the hammerbeams 25 ft. 6 in. The height from
the paving of the hall to the hammerbeam is 40 ft., and to the underside
of the collar beam 63 ft. 6 in., so that an additional height in the
centre of 23 ft. 6 in. has been gained. Other important examples of
hammerbeam roofs exist over the halls of Hampton Court and Eltham
palaces, and there are numerous examples of smaller dimensions in
churches throughout England and particularly in the eastern counties.
The ends of the hammerbeams are usually decorated with winged angels
holding shields; the curved braces and beams are richly moulded, and the
spandrils in the larger examples filled in with tracery, as in
Westminster Hall. Sometimes, but rarely, the collar beam is similarly
treated, or cut through and supported by additional curved braces, as in
the hall of the Middle Temple, London.
HAMMERFEST, the most northern town in Europe. Pop. (1900) 2300. It is
situated on an island (Kvalo) off the N.W. coast of Norway, in Finmarken
_amt_ (county), in 70 deg. 40' 11" N., the latitude being that of the
extreme north of Alaska. Its position affords the best illustration of
the warm climatic influence of the north-eastward Atlantic drift, the
mean annual temperature being 36 deg. F. (January 31 deg., July 57
deg.). Hammerfest is 674 m. by sea N.E. of Trondhjem, and 78 S.W. from
the North Cape. The character of this coast differs from the southern,
the islands being fewer and larger, and of table shape. The narrow
strait Strommen separates Kvalo from the larger Seiland, whose
snow-covered hills with several glaciers rise above 3500 ft., while an
insular rampart of mountains, Soro, protects the strait and harbour from
the open sea. The town is timber-built and modern; and the Protestant
church, town-hall, and schools were all rebuilt after fire in 1890.
There is also a Roman Catholic church. The sun does not set at
Hammerfest from the 13th of May to the 29th of July. This is the busy
season of the townsfolk. Vessels set out to the fisheries, as far as
Spitsbergen and the Kara Sea; and trade is brisk, not only Norwegian and
Danish but British, German and particularly Russian vessels engaging in
it. Cod-liver oil and salted fish are exported with some reindeer-skins,
fox-skins and eiderdown; and coal and salt for curing are imported. In
the spring the great herds of tame reindeer are driven out to swim
Strommen and graze in the summer pastures of Seiland; towards winter
they are called home again. From the 18th of November to the 23rd of
January the sun is not seen, and the enforced quiet of winter prevails.
Electric light was introduced in the town in 1891. On the Fuglenaes or
Birds' Cape, which protects the harbour on the north, there stands a
column with an inscription in Norse and Latin, stating that Hammerfest
was one of the stations of the expedition for the measurement of the
arc of the meridian in 1816-1852. Nor is this its only association with
science; for it was one of the spots chosen by Sir Edward Sabine for his
series of pendulum experiments in 1823. The ascent of the Sadlen or the
Tyven in the neighbourhood is usually undertaken by travellers for the
view of the barren, snow-clad Arctic landscape, the bluff indented
coast, and the vast expanse of the Arctic Ocean.
HAMMER-KOP, or HAMMERHEAD, an African bird, which has been regarded as a
stork and as a heron, the _Scopus umbretta_ of ornithologists, called
the "Umbre" by T. Pennant, now placed in a separate family _Scopidae_
between the herons and storks. It was discovered by M. Adanson, the
French traveller, in Senegal about the middle of the 19th century, and
was described by M. J. Brisson in 1760. It has since been found to
inhabit nearly the whole of Africa and Madagascar, and is the
"hammerkop" (hammerhead) of the Cape colonists. Though not larger than a
raven, it builds an enormous nest, some six feet in diameter, with a
flat-topped roof and a small hole for entrance and exit, and placed
either on a tree or a rocky ledge. The bird, of an almost uniform brown
colour, slightly glossed with purple and its tail barred with black, has
a long occipital crest, generally borne horizontally, so as to give rise
to its common name. It is somewhat sluggish by day, but displays much
activity at dusk, when it will go through a series of strange
performances. (A. N.)
HAMMER-PURGSTALL, JOSEPH, FREIHERR von (1774-1856), Austrian
orientalist, was born at Graz on the 9th of June 1774, the son of Joseph
Johann von Hammer, and received his early education mainly in Vienna.
Entering the diplomatic service in 1796, he was appointed in 1799 to a
position in the Austrian embassy in Constantinople, and in this capacity
he took part in the expedition under Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith
and General Sir John Hely Hutchinson against the French. In 1807 he
returned home from the East, after which he was made a privy councillor,
and, on inheriting in 1835 the estates of the countess Purgstall in
Styria, was given the title of "freiherr." In 1847 he was elected
president of the newly-founded academy, and he died at Vienna on the
23rd of November 1856.
For fifty years Hammer-Purgstall wrote incessantly on the most diverse
subjects and published numerous texts and translations of Arabic,
Persian and Turkish authors. It was natural that a scholar who traversed
so large a field should lay himself open to the criticism of
specialists, and he was severely handled by Friedrich Christian Diez
(1794-1876), who, in his _Unfug und Betrug_ (1815), devoted to him
nearly 600 pages of abuse. Von Hammer-Purgstall did for Germany the same
work that Sir William Jones (q.v.) did for England and Silvestre de Sacy
for France. He was, like his younger but greater English contemporary,
Edward William Lane, with whom he came into friendly conflict on the
subject of the origin of _The Thousand and One Nights_, an assiduous
worker, and in spite of many faults did more for oriental studies than
most of his critics put together.
Von Hammer's principal work is his _Geschichte des osmanischen
Reiches_ (10 vols., Pesth, 1827-1835). Another edition of this was
published at Pesth in 1834-1835, and it has been translated into
French by J. J. Hellert (1835-1843). Among his other works are
_Constantinopolis und der Bosporos_ (1822); _Sur les origines russes_
(St Petersburg, 1825); _Geschichte der osmanischen Dichtkunst_ (1836);
_Geschichte der Goldenen Horde in Kiptschak_ (1840); _Geschichte der
Chane der Krim_ (1856); and an unfinished _Litteraturgeschichte der
Araber_ (1850-1856). His _Geschichte der Assassinen_ (1818) has been
translated into English by O. C. Wood (1835). Texts and
translations--_Eth-Thaalabi_, Arab. and Ger. (1829); _Ibn Wahshiyah,
History of the Mongols_, Arab. and Eng. (1806); _El-Wassaf_, Pers. and
Ger. (1856); _Esch-Schebistani's Rosenflor des Geheimnisses_, Pers.
and Ger. (1838); _Ez-Zamakhsheri, Goldene Halsbander_, Arab. and Germ.
(1835); _El-Ghazzali, Hujjet-el-Islam_, Arab. and Ger. (1838);
_El-Hamawi, Das arab. Hohe Lied der Liebe_, Arab. and Ger. (1854).
Translations of--_El-Mutanebbi's Poems; Er-Resmi's Account of his
Embassy_ (1809); _Contes inedits des 1001 nuits_ (1828). Besides these
and smaller works, von Hammer contributed numerous essays and
criticisms to the _Fundgruben des Orients_, which he edited; to the
_Journal asiatique_; and to many other learned journals; above all to
the _Transactions_ of the "Akademie der Wissenschaften" of Vienna, of
which he was mainly the founder; and he translated Evliya Effendi's
_Travels in Europe_, for the English Oriental Translation Fund. For a
fuller list of his works, which amount in all to nearly 100 volumes,
see _Comptes rendus_ of the Acad. des Inscr. et des Belles-Lettres
(1857). See also Schlottman, _Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall_ (Zurich,
1857).
HAMMERSMITH, a western metropolitan borough of London, England, bounded
E. by Kensington and S. by Fulham and the river Thames, and extending N.
and W. to the boundary of the county of London. Pop. (1901) 112,239. The
name appears in the early forms of _Hermodewode_ and _Hamersmith_; the
derivation is probably from the Anglo-Saxon, signifying the place with a
haven (_hythe_). Hammersmith is mentioned with Fulham as a winter camp
of Danish invaders in 879, when they occupied the island of Hame, which
may be identified with Chiswick Eyot. Hammersmith consists of
residential streets of various classes. There are many good houses in
the districts of Brook Green in the south-east, and Ravenscourt Park and
Starch Green in the west. Shepherd's Bush in the east is a populous and
poorer quarter. Boat-building yards, lead-mills, oil mills,
distilleries, coach factories, motor works, and other industrial
establishments are found along the river and elsewhere in the borough.
The main thoroughfares are Uxbridge Road and Goldhawk Road, from Acton
on the west, converging at Shepherd's Bush and continuing towards
Notting Hill; King Street from Chiswick on the south-west, continued as
Hammersmith Broadway and Road to Kensington Road; Bridge Road from
Hammersmith Bridge over the Thames, and Fulham Palace Road from Fulham,
converging at the Broadway. Old Hammersmith Bridge, designed by Tierney
Clark (1824), was the earliest suspension bridge erected near London.
This bridge was found insecure and replaced in 1884-1887. Until 1834
Hammersmith formed part of Fulham parish. Its church of St Paul was
built as a chapel of ease to Fulham, and consecrated by Laud in 1631.
The existing building dates from 1890. Among the old monuments preserved
is that of Sir Nicholas Crispe (d. 1665), a prominent royalist during
the civil wars and a benefactor of the parish. Schools and religious
houses are numerous. St Paul's school is one of the principal public
schools in England. It was founded in or about 1509 by John Colet, dean
of St Paul's, under the shadow of the cathedral church. But it appears
that Colet actually refounded and reorganized a school which had been
attached to the cathedral of St Paul from very early times; the first
mention of such a school dates from the early part of the 12th century
(see an article in _The Times_, London, July 7, 1909, on the occasion of
the celebration of the quatercentenary of Colet's foundation). The
school was moved to its present site in Hammersmith Road in 1883. The
number of foundation scholars, that is, the number for which Colet's
endowment provided, is 153, according to the number of fishes taken in
the miraculous draught. The total number of pupils is about 600. The
school governors are appointed by the Mercers' Company (by which body
the new site was acquired), and the universities of Oxford, Cambridge
and London. Close to the school is St Paul's preparatory school, and at
Brook Green is a girls' school in connexion with the main school. There
are, besides, the Edward Latymer foundation school for boys (1624), part
of the income of which is devoted to general charitable purposes; the
Godolphin school, founded in the 16th century and remodelled as a
grammar school in 1861; Nazareth House of Little Sisters of the Poor,
the Convent of the Sacred Heart, and other convents. The town hall, the
West London hospital with its post-graduate college, and Wormwood
Scrubbs prison are noteworthy buildings. Other institutions are the
Hammersmith school of art and a Roman Catholic training college. Besides
the picturesque Ravenscourt Park (31 acres) there are extensive
recreation grounds in the north of the borough at Wormwood Scrubbs (193
acres), and others of lesser extent. An important place of entertainment
is Olympia, near Hammersmith Road and the Addison Road station on the
West London railway, which includes a vast arena under a glass roof;
while at Shepherd's Bush are the extensive grounds and buildings first
occupied by the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908, including a huge
stadium for athletic displays. In the extreme north of the borough is
the Kensal Green Roman Catholic cemetery, in which Cardinal Manning and
many other prominent members of this faith are buried. In the
neighbourhood of the Mall, bordering the river, are the house where
Thomson wrote his poem "The Seasons," and Kelmscott House, the residence
of William Morris. The parliamentary borough of Hammersmith returns one
member. The borough council consists of a mayor, 5 aldermen, and 30
councillors. Area, 2286.3 acres.
HAMMER-THROWING, a branch of field athletics which consists of hurling
to the greatest possible distance an instrument with a heavy head and
slender handle called the hammer. Throwing the hammer is in all
probability of Keltic origin, as it has been popular in Ireland and
Scotland for many centuries. The missile was, however, not a hammer, but
the wheel of a chariot attached to a fixed axle, by which it was whirled
round the head and cast for distance. Such a sport was undoubtedly
cultivated in the old Irish games, a large stone being substituted for
the wheel at the beginning of the Christian era. In the Scottish
highlands the missile took the form of a smith's sledgehammer, and in
this form the sport became popular in England in early days. Edward II.
is said to have fostered it, and Henry VIII. is known to have been
proficient. At the beginning of the 19th century two standard hammers
were generally recognized in Scotland, the heavy hammer, weighing about
21 lb., and the light hammer, weighing about 16 lb. These were in
general use until about 1885, although the light hammer gradually
attained popularity at the expense of the heavy. Although originally an
ordinary blacksmith's sledge with a handle about 3 ft. long, the form of
the head was gradually modified until it acquired its present spherical
shape, and the stiff wooden handle gave place to one of flexible
whalebone about 3/8 in. in diameter. The Scottish style of throwing,
which also obtained in America, was to stand on a mark, swing the hammer
round the head several times and hurl it backwards over the shoulder,
the length being measured from the mark made by the falling hammer to
the nearest foot of the thrower, no run or follow being allowed. Such
men as Donald Dinnie, G. Davidson and Kenneth McRae threw the light
hammer over 110 ft., and Dinnie's record was 132 ft. 8 in., made,
however, from a raised mount. Meanwhile the English Amateur Athletic
Association had early fixed the weight of the hammer at 16 lb., but the
length of the handle and the run varied widely, the restrictions being
few. Under these conditions S. S. Brown, of Oxford, made in 1873 a throw
of 120 ft., which was considered extraordinary at the time. In 1875 the
throw was made from a 7-ft. circle without run, head and handle of the
missile weighing together exactly 16 lb. In 1887 the circle was enlarged
to 9 ft., and in 1896 a handle of flexible metal was legalized. The
throw was made after a few rapid revolutions of the body, which added an
impetus that greatly added to the distance attained. It thus happened
that the Scottish competitors at the English games, who clung to their
standing style of throwing, were, although athletes of the very first
class, repeatedly beaten; the result being that the Scottish association
was forced to introduce the English rules. This was also the case in
America, where the throw from the 7-ft. circle, any motions being
allowed within it, was adopted in 1888, and still obtains. The Americans
still further modified the handle, which now consists of steel wire with
two skeleton loops for the hands, the wire being joined to the head by
means of a ball-bearing swivel. Thus the greatest mechanical advantage,
that of having the entire weight of the missile at the end, as well as
the least friction, is obtained. In England the Amateur Athletic
Association in 1908 enacted that "the head and handle may be of any
size, shape and material, provided that the complete implement shall not
be more than 4 ft. and its weight not less than 16 lb. The competitor
may assume any position he chooses, and use either one or both hands.
All throws shall be made from a circle 7 ft. in diameter." The modern
hammer-thrower, if right-handed, begins by placing the head on the
ground at his right side. He then lifts and swings it round his head
with increasing rapidity, his whole body finally revolving with
outstretched arms twice, in some cases three times, as rapidly as
possible, the hammer being released in the desired direction. During the
"spinning," or revolving of the body, the athlete must be constantly,
"ahead of the hammer," i.e. he must be drawing it after him with
continually increased pressure up to the very moment of delivery. The
muscles chiefly called into play are those of the shoulders, back and
loins. The adoption of the hand-loops has given the thrower greater
control over the hammer and has thus rendered the sport much less
dangerous than it once was.
With a wooden handle the longest throw made in Great Britain from a
9-ft. circle was that of W. J. M. Barry in 1892, who won the
championship in that year with 133 ft. 3 in. With the flexible handle,
"unlimited run and follow" being permitted, the record was held in
1909 by M. J. McGrath with 175 ft. 8 in., made in 1907; a Scottish
amateur, T. R. Nicholson, held the British record of 169 ft. 8 in. The
world's record for throw from a 7-ft. circle was 172 ft. 11 in. by J.
Flanagan in 1904 in America; the British record from 9-ft. circle
being also held by Flanagan with a throw of 163 ft. 1 in. made in
1900. Flanagan's Olympic record (London, 1908) was 170 ft. 4-1/4 in.
See _Athletics_ in the Badminton library; _Athletes' Guide_ in
Spalding's Athletic library; "Hammer-Throwing" in vol. xx. of
_Outing_.
HAMMER-TOE, a painful condition in which a toe is rigidly bent and the
salient angle on its upper aspect is constantly irritated by the boot.
It is treated surgically, not as formerly by amputation of the toe, but
the toe is made permanently to lie flat by the simple excision of the
small digital joint. Even in extremely bad cases of hammer-toe the
operation of resection of the head of the metatarsal phalanx is to be
recommended rather than amputation.
HAMMOCK, a bed or couch slung from each end. The word is said to have
been derived from the hamack tree, the bark of which was used by the
aboriginal natives of Brazil to form the nets, suspended from trees, in
which they slept. The hammock may be of matting, skin or textiles, lined
with cushions or filled with bedding. It is much used in hot climates.
HAMMOND, HENRY (1605-1660), English divine, was born at Chertsey in
Surrey on the 18th of August 1605. He was educated at Eton and at
Magdalen College, Oxford, becoming demy or scholar in 1619, and fellow
in 1625. He took orders in 1629, and in 1633 in preaching before the
court so won the approval of the earl of Leicester that he presented him
to the living of Penshurst in Kent. In 1643 he was made archdeacon of
Chichester. He was a member of the convocation of 1640, and was
nominated one of the Westminster Assembly of divines. Instead of sitting
at Westminster he took part in the unsuccessful rising at Tunbridge in
favour of King Charles I., and was obliged to flee in disguise to
Oxford, then the royal headquarters. There he spent much of his time in
writing, though he accompanied the king's commissioners to London, and
afterwards to the ineffectual convention at Uxbridge in 1645, where he
disputed with Richard Vines, one of the parliamentary envoys. In his
absence he was appointed canon of Christ Church and public orator of the
university. These dignities he relinquished for a time in order to
attend the king as chaplain during his captivity in the hands of the
parliament. When Charles was deprived of all his loyal attendants at
Christmas 1647, Hammond returned to Oxford and was made subdean of
Christ Church, only, however, to be removed from all his offices by the
parliamentary visitors, who imprisoned him for ten weeks. Afterwards he
was permitted, though still under quasi-confinement, to retire to the
house of Philip Warwick at Clapham in Bedfordshire. In 1650, having
regained his full liberty, Hammond betook himself to the friendly
mansion of Sir John Pakington, at Westwood, in Worcestershire, where he
died on the 25th of April 1660, just on the eve of his preferment to the
see of Worcester. Hammond was held in high esteem even by his opponents.
He was handsome in person and benevolent in disposition. He was an
excellent preacher; Charles I. pronounced him the most natural orator he
had ever heard. His range of reading was extensive, and he was a most
diligent scholar and writer.
His writings, published in 4 vols. fol. (1674-1684), consist for the
most part of controversial sermons and tracts. The _Anglo-Catholic_
_Library_ contains four volumes of his _Miscellaneous Theological
Works_ (1847-1850). The best of them are his _Practical Catechism_,
first published in 1644; his _Paraphrase and Annotations on the New
Testament_; and an incomplete work of a similar nature on the Old
Testament. His _Life_, a delightful piece of biography, written by
Bishop Fell, and prefixed to the collected _Works_, has been reprinted
in vol. iv. of Wordsworth's _Ecclesiastical Biography_. See also _Life
of Henry Hammond_, by G. G. Perry.
HAMMOND, a city of Lake county, Indiana, U.S.A., about 18 m. S.E. of the
business centre of Chicago, on the Grand Calumet river. Pop. (1890),
5428; (1900) 12,376, of whom 3156 were foreign-born; (1910, census)
20,925. It is served by no fewer than eight railways approaching Chicago
from the east, and by several belt lines. As far as its industries are
concerned, it is a part of Chicago, to which fact it owes its rapid
growth and its extensive manufacturing establishments, which include
slaughtering and packing houses, iron and steel works, chemical works,
piano, wagon and carriage factories, printing establishments, flour and
starch mills, glue works, breweries and distilleries. In 1900 Hammond
was the principal slaughtering and meat-packing centre of the state, but
subsequently a large establishment removed from the city, and Hammond's
total factory product (all industries) decreased from $25,070,551 in
1900 to $7,671,203 in 1905; after 1905 there was renewed growth in the
city's manufacturing interests. It has a good water-supply system which
is owned by the city. Hammond was first settled about 1868, was named in
honour of Abram A. Hammond (acting governor of the state in 1860-1861)
and was chartered as a city in 1883.
HAMON, JEAN LOUIS (1821-1874), French painter, was born at Plouha on the
5th of May 1821. At an early age he was intended for the priesthood, and
placed under the care of the brothers Lamennais, but his strong desire
to become a painter finally triumphed over family opposition, and in
1840 he courageously left Plouha for Paris--his sole resources being a
pension of five hundred francs, granted him for one year only by the
municipality of his native town. At Paris Hamon received valuable
counsels and encouragement from Delaroche and Gleyre, and in 1848 he
made his appearance at the Salon with "Le Tombeau du Christ" (Musee de
Marseille), and a decorative work, "Dessus de Porte." The works which he
exhibited in 1849--"Une Affiche romaine," "L'Egalite au serail," and
"Perroquet jasant avec deux jeunes filles"--obtained no marked success.
Hamon was therefore content to accept a place in the manufactory of
Sevres, but an enamelled casket by his hand having attracted notice at
the London International Exhibition of 1851, he received a medal, and,
reinspired by success, left his post to try his chances again at the
Salon of 1852. "La Comedie humaine," which he then exhibited, turned the
tide of his fortune, and "Ma soeur n'y est pas" (purchased by the
emperor) obtained for its author a third-class medal in 1853. At the
Paris International Exhibition of 1855, when Hamon re-exhibited the
casket of 1851, together with several vases and pictures of which
"L'Amour et son troupeau," "Ce n'est pas moi," and "Une Gardeuse
d'enfants" were the chief, he received a medal of the second class, and
the ribbon of the legion of honour. In the following year he was absent
in the East, but in 1857 he reappeared with "Boutique a quatre sous,"
"Papillon enchaine," "Cantharide esclave," "Devideuses," &c., in all ten
pictures; "L'Amour en visite" was contributed to the Salon of 1859, and
"Vierge de Lesbos," "Tutelle," "La Voliere," "L'Escamoteur" and "La
Soeur ainee" were all seen in 1861. Hamon now spent some time in Italy,
chiefly at Capri, whence in 1864 he sent to Paris "L'Aurore" and "Un
Jour de fiancailles." The influence of Italy was also evident in "Les
Muses a Pompei," his sole contribution to the Salon of 1866, a work
which enjoyed great popularity and was re-exhibited at the International
Exhibition of 1867, together with "La Promenade" and six other pictures
of previous years. His last work, "Le Triste Rivage," appeared at the
Salon of 1873. It was painted at St Raphael, where Hamon had finally
settled in a little house on the shores of the Mediterranean, close by
Alphonse Karr's famous garden. In this house he died on the 29th of May
1874.
HAMPDEN, HENRY BOUVERIE WILLIAM BRAND, 1ST VISCOUNT[1] (1812-1892),
speaker of the House of Commons, was the second son of the 21st Baron
Dacre, and descended from John Hampden, the patriot, in the female line;
the barony of Dacre devolved on him in 1890, after he had been created
Viscount Hampden in 1884. He entered parliament as a Liberal in 1852,
and for some time was chief whip of his party. In 1872 he was elected
speaker, and retained this post till February 1884. It fell to him to
deal with the systematic obstruction of the Irish Nationalist party, and
his speakership is memorable for his action on the 2nd of February 1881
in refusing further debate on W. E. Forster's Coercion Bill--a step
which led to the formal introduction of the closure into parliamentary
procedure. He died on the 14th of March 1892, being succeeded as 2nd
viscount by his son (b. 1841), who was governor of New South Wales,
1895-1899.