are usually from fourteen to twenty inches in breadth allowed between decks for every hammock in a ship of war. In time of battle the hammocks and bedding are firmly corded and fixed in the nettings on the quarter deck, to preserve the men from the fire of the enemy.

HAMSTER. This animal, which is also called

circles in the large one; but one of them was between two trees, posts, hooks, or the like, and effaced by the brightness of the sun, and of an- are much used throughout the West Indies, as well other only half could be seen, resplendent with the as on board of ships. The Indians hang their colors of the rainbow. It is to be regretted that hammocks to trees, to secure themselves from wild this phenomenon, which continued till nearly noon, beasts and insects. It consists of a large strong was not observed by astronomers. There are also coverlet or sheet of coarse cotton, about six feet paraselenas or false moons. square; on two opposite sides are loops of the same stuff, through which a string is run, and thereof HAM. In Scripture Biography, the youngest other loops are formed, all of which are tied toson of Noah, who, having indecently exposed the gether with a cord; and thus the whole is fastened nakedness of his father, was cursed by the patriarch to two neighboring trees in the field, or two hooks in the line of Canaan and his posterity. In conse-in houses. The hammock used on board of ships quence of this irreverent act on the part of Ham, is made of a piece of canvass, six feet long, and some have fancifully conjectured, that not only Ham three wide, drawn together at the ends. There and Canaan, but all their posterity, became slaves, and the color of their skin was suddenly rendered black; and accordingly they maintain, that all the blacks have descended from Ham and Canaan. Others have considered Ham as the introducer of wickedness after the flood, and they charge him with a variety of enormities and abominations. They suppose that he and his posterity were principally concerned in the building of Babel, that the German Marmot, is about the size of the brown they suggested the design, and formed the pre-rat, but much thicker. Its color is reddish brown sumptuous project. He is also represented as the first propagator of idolatry after the flood, and the inventor of magic and other similar superstitions. Ham was the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan: and it has been supposed that he peopled Africa, and that he dwelt in Egypt, the most fruitful part of this country. Africa is called the land of Ham in several passages of the Psalms. Some have believed that Hammon, adored in Egypt and Lybia, was Ham, the son of Noah. But M. Basnage is of opinion, that neither Ham nor Mizraim was ever in Egypt, but that their posterity settled in this country, and called it by the name of their ancestor. And as to Ham's being worshipped as a god, and called Jupiter Ammon, he thinks that this is a mistake occasioned by similitude of names, and that Jupiter Ammon was the sun, to which divine honors have been paid at all times in Egypt. HAND. A member of the human body, at the extremity of the arm. The mechanism of the HAMLET. A prince of Denmark whose his-hand is excellently fitted for the various uses and tory has been rendered interesting, by being the occasions we have for it, and the great number of subject of one of the noblest tragedies of Shak-arts and manufactures in which it is to be employed. speare. Adjoining to a royal palace, which stands It consists of a compages of nerves, and little bones about half a mile from Cronburg in Elsineur, is a joined into each other, which give it a great degree garden, which, Mr. Coxe inforins us, is called of strength, and at the same time an unusual flexiHamlet's Garden, and is said to be the spot where bility, to enable it to handle adjacent bodies, lay his father was murdered. The house is of modern hold of them, and grasp them, in order either to date, and is situated at the foot of a sandy ridge draw them towards us or thrust them off. Anaxnear the sea. The garden occupies the side of the hill, and is laid out in terraces rising above each other. The original history, from which the poet derived the principal incidents of his play, is founded upon facts, but so deeply buried in remote antiquity that it is difficult to discriminate truth from fable. Saxo Grammaticus, who flourished in the twelfth century, is the earliest historian of Denmark who relates the adventures of Hamlet. His account is much altered by Belleforest, a French author, a translation of whose romance was published under the title of the 'Hystorye of Hamblet,' from which Shakspeare is supposed to have formed the ground-work of his play.

above, and black beneath; and there are three large oval white spots on each side of the body. are two pouches or receptacles for food on each But the peculiarity, which most distinguishes it, side of its mouth. These are not visible externally when empty; but, when distended, they resemble face, which the fur of the cheeks conceals. The a pair of tumid bladders, with a smooth veiny surpouches of one which Dr. Russel dissected, were found stuffed with French beans, arranged lengthwise, in such compact and accurate order, that it been placed. When loosely laid on the table, they was exceedingly difficult to conceive how they had formed a heap thrice the bulk of the animal's body.

agoras is said to have maintained, that man owes all his wisdom, knowledge, and superiority over other animals, to the use of his hands. The right hand was the place of honor and respect. Amongst the Greeks and Romans it was customary for interiors to walk on the left hand of superiors, that the right hand might be ready to afford protection and defence to their left side, which, on account of the awkwardness of the left hand, was more exposed to danger.

HAND-CUFFS. An instrument formed of two circular pieces of iron, each fixed by a hinge on the ends of a short iron bar, which being locked over the wrists of a malefactor, prevents his using

HAMMOCKS, or HAMACS. Are suspended his hands.

HANSE TOWNS. Port towns of Germany, which were incorporated for the purpose of protecting their trade. The three principal of these towns were Hamburgh, Bremen, and Lubec, which still retain the name.

HARDENING OF TIMBER. The Venetians are famous for the soundness of their ships, which do not rot as those of other nations, but will endure much longer than the others. Tachenlus tells us, that the whole secret of this consists in the manner of their hardening their timber intended for this service; and that this is done by sinking it in water while green, and leaving it there many years. This prevents the alkali, or that salt which furnishes the alkali in burning, from exhaling afterwards; and by this means the timber becomes almost as incorruptible as stone. It is evident that the exhaling of this salt, and the rotting of wood, have some very great connexion with one another, since the more sound any piece of timber is, the more salt it proportionably yields; and the wood which is rotten is found on trial to contain no salt at all.

stance in nature, is little more than half the weight of the lightest metal. As little is it connected with the coldness, electrical properties, or any other quality with which we are acquainted; so that, though the principle above laid down may be accepted as a general foundation for our inquiries, a great number of particulars remain yet to be discovered before we can offer any satisfactory explanation. All bodies become harder by cold; but this is not the only incans of their doing so, for some become hard by heat as well as cold.

HARE. In Zoology. The hare is a beast of venery, but peculiarly so termed in its second year. There are reckoned four sorts of them, from the places of their abode: viz. the mountain, the field, the marsh, and the wandering hares. The mountain hares are the swiftest; the field hares are not so nimble; those of the marshes are the slowest : but the wandering hares are the most dangerous to follow; for they are cunning in the ways and mazes of the fields, and, knowing the nearest ways, run up the hills and rocks, to the confusion of the dogs, and the discouragement of the hunters.

of fat or grease with it, and incorporating them well over the fire. This mixture is to be rubbed over the lowest part of the trees in November, and will preserve them till that time next year without any danger from these animals. It is only in winter, when other food is scarce, that these creatures feed on the barks of trees. Those who have the care of warrens have an odd way of fattening hares, viz. stopping up their ears with wax, and rendering them deaf. The hare is so timorous, that she continually listens after every noise, and will run a long way on the least suspicion of danger; so that she always eats in terror, and runs herself out of flesh continually. These are both prevented by her feeding in a safe place, without apprehension.

HARDNESS. In bodies, is a property directly opposite to fluidity, by which they resist the im- Hares and rabbits are very mischievous to nursepression of any other substance, sometimes in an ries and new planted orchards, by peeling off the extreme degree. As fluidity has been found to barks of the young trees: to prevent which, some consist in the motion of the particles of a body bind ropes about the trees up to such a height as upon one another, in consequence of a certain ac- they are able to reach; some daub them with tar; tion of the universal fluid, or elementary fire, but though this keeps off the hares, it is itself misamong them; we must conclude that hardness chievous to the trees; but this hurtful property of consists in the absence of this action, or a deficien- it is in some degree taken off by mixing any kind cy of what is called latent heat. This is confirmed by observing, that there is an intermediate state betwixt hardness and fluidity, in which bodies will yield to a certain force, though they still make a considerable resistance. This is principally observed in the metals, and is the foundation of their ductility. It appears, indeed, that this last property, as well as fluidity, is entirely dependant on a certain quantity of latent heat absorbed, or otherwise acting within the substance itself; for all the metals are rendered hard by hammering, and soft by being put again into the fire, and kept there for sometime. The former operation renders them hot as well as hard; probably, as Dr. Black observes, because the particles of metal are thus forced nearer one another, and those of fire squeezed out from among them. By keeping them for some time in the fire, that element insinuates itself again among the particles, and arranges them in the same man; ner as before, so that the ductility returns. By a second hammering this property is again destroyed, returning on a repetition of the heating, or annealing, as it is called; and so on, as often as we please. Hardness appears to diminish the cohesion of bodies in some degree, though their fragility does by no means keep pace with their hardness. Thus, glass is very hard and very brittle; but flint, though still harder than glass, is much less brittle.

HARE-LIP. A division in the upper lip, with which some children are born. The division is sometimes confined to the skin and muscles of the lip, but in other cases it extends to the palate-bone and the soft parts of the mouth. It is a deformity which parents are very anxious to get rid of, and it is done without a great deal of pain or difficulty; but it is proper to wait till the child is a few years old and able to give a little assistance by its own steadiness. The operation consists in removing the skin from the two surfaces, and bringing and Among the metals, however, these two proper- keeping the two raw edges in contact; when the ties seem to be more connected, though even here opposite sides grow together perfectly, and hardly the connexion is by no means complete. Steel, a sear remains. Adhesive plaster will not do to the hardest of all the metals, is indeed the most keep them in contact, but it must be done by two brittle; but lead, the softest, is not the most ductile. or three gold pins pushed from one side to the Neither is hardness connected with the specific other, and kept firin by thread or silk twisted round gravity of bodies; for a diamond, the hardest sub-them in the figure of 8. In three days they may

be removed, and the cure will be complete. This northeast wind, the quarter from which it blows. is the course of things in favorable circumstances; The English adopt the Fantee word harmattan. but sometimes there are two or more clefts which It comes on indiscriminately at any hour of the require separate operations, and one should be day, at any time of the tide, or at any period of the healed before the cure of the other is attempted. moon, and continues sometimes only a day or two, When the palate-bone is divided the cure cannot sometimes five or six days, and it has been known be accomplished, and the voice is defective from to last fifteen or sixteen. There are generally three the wrong conformation of the roof of the mouth, or four returns of it every season. It blows with and swallowing is difficult on account of the food a moderate force, not quite so strong as the sea getting up into the nose. breeze; (which blows every day during the fair season from the west, west southwest, and southwest) but somewhat stronger than the land wind at night from the north and north northwest. A fog is one of the peculiarities which always accompanies the harmattan. Extreme dryness makes another extraordinary property of this wind. No dew falls during its continuance, nor is there the least appearance of moisture in the atmosphere. Vegetables of every kind are very much injured; all tender plants, and most of the productions of the garden, are destroyed; the grass withers, and becomes dry like hay; the vigorous evergreens likewise feel its pernicious influence; the branches of the lemon, orange, and lime-trees droop; the leaves become flaccid, wither, and, if the harmattan continues to blow for ten or twelve days, are so parched as to be easily rubbed to dust between the fingers: the fruit of these trees, deprived of its nourishment, and stinted in its growth, becomes yellow and dry, without acquiring half its usual size.

HAREM. This is a name used by Mussulmen, to signify the apartments of women, which are forbidden to every man except the husband. The term seraglio, often used by Europeans for harem, is a corruption of the word serai, that is, palace. The ladies are served by female slaves, and guarded by black eunuchs. Doctor Clarke, the celebrated traveller, visited the summer palace during the absence of the occupants, and has given a particular description of it. The women, says he, of the imperial harem are all slaves, generally Circassians or Georgians. Their number depends solely on the pleasure of the Sultan, but is very considerable. His mother, female relations, and grandees, vie with each other in presenting him the handsomest slaves. Out of this great number he chooses seven wives, although but four are allowed by the prophet. These are called cadius, and have splendid appointments. The one who first presents him with a male heir is styled the Sultana, by way of eminence. If her son ascends the throne she is allowed to appear without a veil. None of the others, even when sick, are permitted to lay aside the veil, in the presence of any one but the Sultan. When visited by the physician, their bed is covered with a thick counterpane, and the pulse felt through gauze.

The life of ladies of the imperial harem is spent in bathing, dressing, walking in the gardens, and witnessing the voluptuous dances performed by their slaves. The women of other Turks enjoy the society of their friends at the baths, or each other's houses, appear in public accompanied by slaves and eunuchis, and enjoy a degree of liberty which increases as they descend in rank. But those of the Sultan have none of these privileges. When transferred to the summer residences on the Bosphorus, they are removed at break of day, pass from the garden to the boats between two screens, while the eunuchs, for a considerable distance round, warn every one off, on pain of death. Each boat has a cabin covered with cloth, and the eunuchs keep the boatmen at a distance. It is, of course, only the richer Moslems who can maintain harems. The poorer classes have generally but one wife.

HARMATTAN. A remarkable periodical wind which blows from the interior parts of Africa towards the Atlantic Ocean. It is described in the Philosophical Transactions as an easterly wind prevailing on that part of the coast of Africa which lies between Cape Verd in latitude fifteen degrees north, and Cape Lopez in latitude one degree south, during December, January, and February.

This wind is by the French and Portuguese, who frequent the Gold coast, called simply the

The parching effects of this wind are likewise evident on the external parts of the body. The eyes, nostrils, lips, and palate, are rendered dry and uneasy, and drink is often required, not so much to quench thirst, as to remove a painful aridity in the fauces. The lips and nose become sore, and even chapped; and, though the air be cool, yet there is a troublesome sensation of prickling heat on the skin. If the harmattan continues four or five days, the scarfskin peels off, first from the hands and face; and afterwards from the other parts of the body, if it continues a day or two longer. Those laboring under fluxes and intermitting fevers, however, generally recover in a harmattan. It stops the progress of epidemics: the small pox, remittent fevers, &c., not only disappear, but those laboring under these diseases when an harmattan comes on, are almost certain of a speedy recovery.'

HARIDI. A serpent formerly worshipped at Achmim in Upper Egypt. Upwards of a century ago,' says Mr. Savary, 'a religious Turk called Scheilk Haridi died here. He passed for a saint among the Mohammedans; who raised a monument to him, covered with a cupola, at the foot of the mountain. The people flocked from all parts to offer up their prayers to him. One of their priests, profiting by their credulity, persuaded them that God had made the soul of Scheilk Haridi pass into the body of a serpent. Many of these are found in the Thebais, which are harmless; and he had taught one to obey his voice. He appeared with his serpent, dazzled the vulgar by his surprising tricks, and pretended to cure all disorders. Some lucky instances of success, due to nature alone, and sometimes to the imagination of the patients, gave him great celebrity. He soon con

on successive nights, soon after sunset, owing to the oblique ascension of the signs of the Zodiac, through which the moon is then passing, which signs, in turning the globe, ascend almost horizontally.

HAT. A covering for the head, worn by the men throughout the western part of Europe. Hats are chiefly made of hair, wool, &c. worked, fulled, and fashioned to the figure of the head.

Hats are said to have been first seen about the year 1400, at which time they became of use for country wear, riding, &c. F. Daniel relates, that when Charles II. made his public entry into Rouen, in 1449, he had on a hat lined with red velvet, and surmounted with a plume, or tuft of feathers: he adds, that it is from this entry, or at least under this reign, that the use of hats and caps is to be dated; which henceforward began to take place of the chaperons and hoods that had been worn before. In process of time, from the laity, the clergy also took this part of the habit, but it was looked on as a great abuse, and several regulations were published, forbidding any priest, or religious person, to appear abroad in a hat without coronets, and enjoining them to keep to the use of chaperons, made of black cloth, with decent coronets; if they were poor, they were at least to have coronets fastened to their hats, and this upon penalty of suspension and excommunication. Indeed, the use of hats is said to have been of a longer standing among the ecclesiastics of Brittany, by two hundred years, and especially among the canons; but these were no other than a kind of caps, and from hence arose the square caps worn in colleges.

HATCHES. In a ship, a sort of trap-doors in the mid-ship, or between the main-mast and foremast, through which goods of bulk are let down into the hold. There are several of these square or oblong passages in the deck of a ship leading from one deck to another, and into the hold or lower apartments..

HATCHING. The maturating of fecundated eggs, whether by the incubation and warmth of the parent bird, or by artificial heat, so as to produce young chickens alive.

HATCHWAY. Among Mariners, an opening in the deck, to serve as a passage from one deck to another.

each other. This is the object of the process called bowing. The materials are laid upon an open platform of wood or wire, somewhat more than four feet square, called a hurdle, which is fixed against the wall. The workman is provided with a bow or pole of yellow deal-wood, between seven and eight feet long, with two bridges, over which are stretched a catgut, about one twelfth part of an inch in thickness. The materials being shovelled with a basket towards the right hand end of the hurdle, the workman holding the bow horizontally in his left hand, tightly places the bow-string, and gives it a pluck with a knobbed stick called the bow-pin. The string in its return, strikes part of the fur, and causes it to rise, and fly partly across the hurdle in a light open form. The quantity bowed at once is called a batt, and never exceeds half that required to make one hat. When the hat is sufficiently bowed, it is ready for hardening. The prepared material being evenly disposed on the hurdle, is covered with a cloth, and pressed successively in its various parts by the hands of the workman. The pressure is gentle, and the hands are very slightly moved backwards and forwards, to favor the entangling of the fibres. In a very short time the stuff acquires sufficient firmness to bear careful handling. The cloth is then taken off, and a sheet of paper, with its corners doubled in, so as to give it a triangular outline, is laid upon the batt, which last is folded over the paper as it lies, and its edges, meeting one over the other, form a conical cap. The joining is soon made good by pressure with the hands on the cloth. Another batt, ready hardened, is then laid on the hurdle, and the cap placed upon it, with the joining downwards. The principal part of the hat is thus put together, and now requires to be worked with the hands a considerable time upon the hurdle, the cloth being occasionally sprinkled with clear water. This is followed by a still more effectual continuation of the felting, called working. This is done in an apparatus called a battery, consisting of a kettle containing water acidulated with sulphuric acid, and eight planks of wood joined together in the form of a frustrum of a pyramid, and meeting in the kettle at the middle. The liquor being heated rather higher than unpractised hands could bear, the article is dipped from time to time, and worked on the planks with a roller, and also by folding or rolling it up, and opening it again. The beaver is laid on towards the conclusion of this kind of working. Beer grounds are used with beaver hats, to render the liquor more tenacious, so that the hat is enabled to hold a greater quantity of it for a longer time.

HAT MANUFACTORY. The art of making common hats not involving the description of any complex machinery, or of any very interesting The next thing to be done is to give it the form process, we shall content ourselves with the follow-required by the wearer. For this purpose, the ing very general idea of the method generally workman turns up the edge or rim to the depth of pursued. about an inch and a half, and then returns the point back again through the centre or axis of the cap, so far as not to take out this fold, but to produce another inner fold of the same depth. The point being returned back again in the same manner produces a third fold; and thus the workman proceeds until the whole has acquired the appearance of a flat circular piece. This is laid upon the plank, where the workman, keeping the piece wet with the liquor, pulls out the point with his fingers,

The materials for making hats are rabbits' fur, cut off from the skin, after the hairs have been plucked out, together with wool and beaver. The two former are mixed in various proportions, and of different qualities, according to the value of the article intended to be made; and the latter is used for facing the finer articles. These articles cannot be evenly fitted together unless all the fibres be first separated, or put into the same state with regard to