618 



HECLA 



HEDGEBOTE 



It is the chief seat of the carpet and blanket manu- 

 factures in the West Riding, and also makes rugs, 

 pilot-cloth, and flushings. There are ironworks, 

 machine-shops, and coal-mines in the neighbour- 

 hood. Here was born John Curwen, the inventor 

 of the Tonic Solfa system. Pop. (1851) 4540; 

 <1881) 9282; (1891)9709. 



Hecla, or HEKLA, a volcanic mountain in 

 Iceland, stands isolated about 20 miles from the 

 south-west coast and 68 miles E. from Reykjavik. N 

 Its snow-clad summit is 5102 feet high, and has 

 five craters. The sides of the mountain are 

 seamed by numerous deep ravines. The principal 

 rocks are lava and tuff. ' Fantastic groups of hills, 

 craters, and lava, leading the eye to distant snow- 

 covered jokuls ; the mist rising from a waterfall ; 

 lakes embosomed amid bare bleak mountains ; an 

 awful and profound slumber ; lowering clouds ; 

 marks all around of the furious action of the most 

 destructive of the elements, give to the region a 

 character of desolation scarcely to be paralleled.' 

 A record of the eruptions has been kept since the 

 9th century, during which time there have been 

 eighteen outbreaks. These have generally been 

 very violent, and have often continued for a con- 

 siderable time. In September 1845 a terrific out- 

 break occurred and lasted for more than a year. 

 A fine dust from this eruption was scattered over 

 the Orkney Islands, a distance of 500 miles from 

 Hecla. Indeed, the great quantities of fine dust 

 ejected, and the immense distances to which it has 

 been carried, have generally been noted as character- 

 istic of the Icelandic eruptions. 



Hectare. See ARE. 



Hectic Fever ( Gr. hektikos, ' habitual ; ' see 

 FEVER) is the name given to the fever which 

 occurs in connection with certain wasting diseases 

 of long duration. It is one of the most serious and 

 constant symptoms of Consumption (q.v. ), and 

 seems to be directly related to the progressive 

 emaciation which marks the course of that malady. 

 In the morning the patient's temperature may be 

 normal. He may even feel chilly. But towards 

 evening or after eating he grows hot and thlshed ; 

 and there is a preternatural vividness of expression, 

 which, with the heightened colour, sometimes gives 

 a very fallacious impression of health. The patient 

 retires to bed, has tossing and uneasy sleep, and 

 wakens in the middle of the night, or towards early 

 morning, bathed in cold perspiration, and in a state 

 of extreme languor. The same exhausting cycle 

 repeats itself day after day. The only radical way 

 of treating the fever is to cure the disease on which 

 it depends. When the symptom itself must be 

 combated, a pill containing a grain of sulphate of 

 quinine, with half a grain of digitalis and as much of 

 Dover's powder, taken three times a day, is often 

 serviceable. 



Hector, the eldest son of King Priam and 

 Hecuba, husband of Andromache, and father of 

 Astyanax ( Scamandrius ), appears in Homer's 

 Iliad as the ideal of a warlike hero, brave to the 

 last degree, yet faithful and tender alike as hus- 

 band, father, and son. One of the noblest passages 

 in the Iliad describes his parting with Andromache. 

 He holds the same rank among the Trojans as 

 Achilles among the Greeks, and, after bearing the 

 main burden of the war, falls at length by the 

 hand of Achilles enraged at the death of his beloved 

 companion Patroclus. His body was dragged in 

 triumph by the conqueror round the tomb of 

 Patroclus, but was afterwards ransomed by Priam, 

 who caused it to be burned with great pomp. 



Hec'llba (Gr. Hektibe), the second wife of Priam, 

 king of Troy. During the Trojan war she witnessed 

 the destruction of all her sons, witli the exception 

 of Helenus, and at last saw her husband murdered 



before her eyes by the savage Pyrrhus. After the 

 destruction of Troy she fell into the hands of the 

 Greeks as a slave, and, according to one form of 

 the legend, threw herself in despair into the sea. 

 Euripides (in his tragedy of Hecabe] and other 

 ancient tragedians describe her as a tender mother, 

 a noble princess, and a virtuous wife, exposed by 

 fate to the most cruel sufferings. 

 Heddles. See WEAVING. 



Hedge ( A. S. hege, another form of haga, whence 

 modern haw; cf. Ger. hag. The Fr. haie is of 

 Teutonic origin), a living or growing fence, in 

 contradistinction to wall, paling, &c., used for 

 the purposes of enclosure, shelter, and orna- 

 ment in connection with agriculture, forestry, 

 and gardening. Hedges are very much used 

 in some parts of the world, whilst others, 

 equally cultivated, are almost destitute of them. 

 Thus, * whilst they are very common in many 

 parts of Britain, they are comparatively rare 

 in France and Germany, as well as in America. 

 They are formed of many kinds of trees and 

 shrubs according to the purpose in view, the 

 nature of the exposure, the elevation of the site, 

 and the soil in which they are to be planted. It 

 is essential, whatever plant may be used, that it 

 should bear without injury the degree of annual 

 pruning necessary to keep it trim and within the 

 proper limits of a fence. 



For the purposes of agriculture and forestry 

 Hawthorn (q.v.) is almost universally employed in 

 Britain wherever the conditions of soil and situation 

 are favourable to its growth. When properly 

 attended to, especially in respect of annual pruning, 

 it is the most effectual fence for domestic animals, 

 and also an excellent shelter. On elevated sites, 

 those exceeding 1000 feet above sea-level, it does 

 not succeed well. In such positions elder, mountain 

 ash, &c. are planted for shelter in the form of 

 hedges, but are deficient in the other qualities of a 

 fence. Beech-hedges are familiar in some districts. 

 Substitutes for hawthorn in providing shelter by 

 the seaside are found in sea-buckthorn, snowberry, 

 scarlet dogwood, sloe, wild-pear, &c., but none of 

 them are of value in repelling cattle. Orna- 

 mental hedges are formed of holly, yew the 

 latter is regarded as poisonous when eaten by 

 cattle, horses especially, and should therefore be 

 selected only for positions which they cannot 

 approach arbor vitse, laurel, privet, barberry, both 

 evergreen and deciduous ; beech, hornbeam, &c. 

 In some parts of the west of Scotland and Wales, 

 and in the south of England and many parts of the 

 coast of Ireland, permanent hedges of fuchsia, 

 arbutus, and other beautiful evergreen or flowering 

 shrubs are to be found, though they will not endure 

 the cold of inland and east coast districts in the 

 same latitudes. 



In the United States the English hawthorn is 

 useless as a hedge-plant, as the foliage is late, is 

 destroyed by the heat, and is much infested by 

 insects ; the native thorns are little better. In 

 various parts of the states where hedges are em- 

 ployed serviceable plants are bodock (see Bois 

 D'ARC), honey locust, pyracanth, the Macartney 

 rose, buckthorn, barberry, &c. 



Hedges were in use among the ancient Romans, 

 chiefly for the enclosure of vineyards and gardens. 

 It is 'probable that they have existed in England 

 since the times of the Romans, although not very 

 common till the end of the 17th century ; but they 

 are supposed to have been first introduced into 

 Scotland and Ireland by the officers of Cromwell's 

 armies. 



Hedgebote, an old word for the right of a 

 tenant to cut wood on the farm or land for repair 

 ing the hedges or fences. 



