7(1 



UOrSKBREAKIXO. 



HUMIDITY. 



782 



tone, should be laid hollow, and an efficient ventilation be established 

 under it. A dear space, or back yard, equal in area to the house iUelf, 

 ought to be provided to all town dwellings. 



4. The old classification adopted in the metropolis, by which hoiiaes 

 were grouped as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rate houses, presented some advan- 

 tages, at least for descriptive purposes ; and as the minimum dimen- 

 sions of rooms adapted to the respective rates have been settled with n 

 tolerable degree of accuracy, they are appended ; as memoranda, rather 

 than as rules. 



a. The poorer descriptions of 1st rate houses had front sitting-rooms 

 15 feet wide, by 14 feet long, by 10 feet high ; passages, 5 feet wide ; 

 well-hole for staircase, 6 feet 2 inches wide ; back rooms, IS feet 9 

 inches wide, by 14 feet 3 inches long; in all cases clear of walls 

 >T partitions of any kind. The basements were made 8 feet clear 

 height ; the bed-rooms about 9 feet high. 



6. The poorer descriptions of 2nd rate houses had front rooms 13 

 ide, by 13 feet 6 inches long, by K feet high ; passages, 4 feet 

 ;t inches wide ; well-holes 5 feet 4 inches wide : back rooms, 13 feet 

 6 inches long, by 12 feet 6 inches wide. The basements were made 

 about 7 feet inches high ; the bed-rooms from 8 feet to b 

 inches high. 



r. The ]>oorer descriptions of 3rd rate houses were made with front 

 rooms 10 feet 9 inches wide, by 11 feet long, by 8 feet high ; lobbies, 

 3 feet wide leading to staircase, in the middle of the houses, 2 feet 



9 inches wide ; and back rooms the whole width of the house by about 



10 feet C inches deep. The bed-rooms were made from 6 foot 6 

 inches to 7 feet high. 



5. It may be as well {o add that, in towns, it would be desirable to 

 make the width of alleys (or the passages for foot-passengera only), not 

 less than 15 feet ; and to limit the height of the houses to the game 

 dimension, measuring from the ground line to the top of the wall-plate 

 of the roof, when the ridge is parallel to the front ; or to the top of the 

 parapet, if the roof be made in the form known as a hipped V roof. 

 When, however, houses face upon streets in a continuous line, the 

 height may be made equal to the clear space between the front walls on 

 the opposite sides ; but as in case of fire it is difficult to force water to 

 a greater height than 70 feet, it may be suspected that the above limit 

 (namely, 70 feet), ought to be adopted for private residences. The 

 width of streets, of course, will be regulated by the amount of traffic 

 they are likely to receive, but it may be said to range between 40 and 

 80 feet, including the footpaths. 



HOUSEBREAKING. [LAW, CRIMINAL.] 



HOUSE OF CORRECTION. [PRISON.] 



HOWITZER, a piece of ordnance which is constructed to throw 

 shot and shell of a large calibre at short ranges. The gun being com- 

 paratively very light, the charge of powder is small, and consequently 

 the angle of elevation required is high. It may be considered interme- 

 diate between the gun and the mortar; though it is mounted on a gun- 

 carnage. It derives it* name from the German word haiifen, " to fill." 

 The name perhaps did not at first indicate a distinct species of ord- 

 nance, but was applied to any gun filled or charged with slugs or case- 

 ehot. Short guns for the discharge of shells were used in Italy 

 in 1818 ; but they do not appear to have been introduced into 

 France till 1683, about which time they were also adopted in the 

 British service. Howitzers are made of brass and iron ; the former 

 forming a portion of field-batteries, the latter of siege-trains and 

 garrison artillery. The brass howitzers are denominated 24-pounders, 

 12-pounders, 54-inch, and 4 j-inch, from the weight of the round shot 

 which they will carry, and the diameters of the shells discharged 

 from them. The iron howitzers are the 8-inch and 10-inch. Their 

 lengths are respectively : 



Iron, 5 feet, and 4 feet. 



Brass, 4 feet 9 inches, 3 feet 9 inches, 2 feet 8 inches, and 1 foot 



11 inches. 



The fire of shells from brass howitzers hi the field is found very 

 effective against villages, stockades, palisades, Ac. The iron howitzers 

 are used in sieges, principally for RICOCHET. 



Tli.- modern shell guns [ORDXANCE] are a description of howitzer. 



HUE AND CRY was the old common-law process of pursuing with 

 horn and voice all felons and such as had dangerously wounded 

 another. 



Though the term has in a great measure fallen into disuse, the 

 process is still recognised by the law of England as a means of arresting 

 felons without the warrant of a justice of the peace. Hue and Cry 

 may be raised either by the precept of a justice of the peace, or by a 

 private person who knows of the felony; who should acquaint the 

 constable of the vill with the circumstances and the person of the 

 felon ; though, if the constable is absent, hue and cry may be made 

 without licence. When hue and cry is raised, all persona, as well 

 constables an others, are bound to join in the pursuit and assist in the 

 capture of the felon. A constable also who baa a warrant against a 

 felon may follow him by hue and cry into a different county from that 

 in which the warrant was granted, without having the warrant backed. 

 The pursuers are justified in breaking the outer dour of the house 

 where the offender actually is, and are not liable to any punishment or 

 'unit if it should appear that the hue and cry was improperly raised, 

 but the person raining the hue and cry wantonly and maliciously may 

 bo wvercly punished as a disturber of the public peace. 



I in; U:\.ITS was the name given to the early followers of the 

 Reformed or Calvinist religion in France. The origin of the name has 

 been variously accounted for. It is said to be derived from the 

 German word " Eidgenooseu " (" bound together by oath "I, which was 

 the name assumed by the confederate cantons of Switzerland, and 

 which was afterwards adopted by those citizens of Geneva whu 

 promoted the alliance of that republic with the cantons of Fribourg 

 and Bern, in opposition to the partisans of the duke of Sav, 

 were called Maiuelucs, that is slaves. The word Eidgenossen, being 

 transferred into the French language, was corrupted first into Eguenots, 

 and lastly HuguenoU. (Wronger, ' Histoire de Geneve. 1 ) It u also 

 said to have been derived from the early meetings having been I; 

 a heath near Tours, haunted by the ghost of Hugo Capet. When the 

 Reformation began at Geneva, the party which favoured it, being in 

 great measure the some which had supported the Swiss l)Hm, 

 retained the appellation of Eguenote, or Huguenots, and as several of 

 the early French reformers came from or were connected with 

 Swil/erland, and especially with Geneva, the name spread into France, 

 and was applied to the partisans of religious reform during the times 

 of religious war and persecution. The Roman Catholics used the name 

 of H uguenots as a word of reproach against heretics. The word is now 

 obsolete, and has been replaced by that of " Rdformes," which is given 

 chiefly to the disciples of Calvin, while the more general name of 

 ProtestanU includes the Lutherans. The war and persecutions of the 

 Huguenots are matters of history, but a good account of those of the 

 Calvinistic branch has been given by Dr. G. De Fdlice, in his ' Histoire 

 del Protestants de France depuis 1'origine de la Reformation jusqu'au 

 le temp present,' 1850, of which there is more than one Englisht ransla- 

 tiou; ' De 1'etat des Protestants en France,' by Aignan, 1818; and 

 Merle d'Aubign^'s ' History of the Reformation in the 16th (Ynturv. 1 

 1835, Ac. 



HUMIC ACID. [GKIN.] 



HUMIDITY is that property of a substance by which it com- 

 municates to a body in contact with it some of a liquid which it may 

 have absorbed ; and the term is commonly applied to the atmosphere 

 when it is in a state to deposit moisture upon bodies in it. 



The humidity of the atmosphere is caused in a great measure by the 

 evaporation of water from the seas, lakes, Ac., of the earth ; ami the 

 quantity of moisture which a volume of air is capable of containing 

 depends upon the temperature : when the latter is low at any part of 

 the earth's surface, the air may be saturated with moisture so as to be 

 incapable of holding any more, but the quantity of moisture in a given 

 volume will then be small. If the temperature be increased, tho 

 atmosphere, becoming thereby comparatively dry, acquires i 

 the power of receiving more vapour, and the power increases with the 

 temperature, so that, in a given volume of air, the quantity which 

 consists with the state of saturation is also increased. Whatever be the 

 quantity of vapour which constitutes the state of saturation, if the 

 temperature be suddenly lowered, or if there be presented a body 

 which has an affinity for water, a precipitation of the latter takes place, 

 or water becomes absorbed in the body. [Dnw ; EVALUATION; 

 HYCJUOMETUY; RAIN.] 



The temperature of the atmosphere over any place on the surface of 

 the earth diminishes as the distance of the stratum of air from the 

 surface increases: the power of the air to hold vapour diinini.-ln - 

 accordingly ; and, as a general law, it may be stated that tho humidity 

 of the atmosphere decreases from the surface of the earth upward-. 

 The great dryness of the atmosphere near the summits of mountains 

 has been frequently remarked by travellers, but the quantity of 

 moisture in the different strata is, from local influences, subject to 

 many irregularites. The temperature of the lower strata of the atmos- 

 phere diminishing as the latitudes of places on the earth increase, a 

 given volume of air, as a cubic foot, when completely saturated, will 

 contain less water as a station is farther from the equator ; and the 

 like may be said of the entire column of the atmosphere over a station. 

 This may serve to account for the fact that, in general, the weather 

 becomes fine when the mercury rises in the tube of a barometer ; for 

 then, by the increased density of the air, the clouds are made to 

 ascend in the atmosphere to a region where, the dryness being great, 

 they are readily dissipated. On the contrary, when the mercurial 

 column diminishes in length, the clouds descend; and arriving near the 

 earth, they enter a region in which the atmosphere is at or near tho 

 state of saturation ; when, consequently, the vapours are easily precipi- 

 tated. Biot observes, on this subject, that the descent of the mercury 

 is a more certain prognostication of rain than its ascent is of fair 

 weather ; the ascent of the clouds in consequence of an increased 

 density of the air not being necessarily accompanied by their disper- 

 sion. From the agitation produced by high winds, the upper regions 

 of the atmosphere ore often charged with aqueous vapour ; and rain 

 may then fall while the top of the column of mercury is above its 

 mean height, and even while it is rising in the tube. 



The atmosphere often becomes humid from the evaporation of liquids 

 by artificial means. In establishments for brewing, dyeing, and the 

 like processes, the vapours produced from liquids which are constantly 

 in a state of ebullition rise in the atmosphere, and even render it 

 opaque. The breathing of men and animals produces a watery vapour 

 which renders the atmosphere humid ; and when a number of persons 

 are assembled in a close apartment the humidity is sometimes so great. 



