HELENA 



3921 



HELICOPTER 



Helena, FLA VIA JULIA (d. 328). 

 Wife of the Roman emperor Con- 

 stantius Chlorus and mother of 

 Constantino the Great. She was 

 born of humble origin in Nico- 

 media, and became famous for her 

 devotion to Christianity. In her 

 old agre she made a pilgrimage to 

 Jerusalem, and, according to a 

 legend which first appears at the 

 end of the 4th century, she dis- 

 covered there the sepulchre of Our 

 Lord and the wood of the Cross. 



Helensburgh. Borough and 

 watering-place of Dumbarton- 

 shire, Scotland. It stands on the 

 N. bank of the 

 Firth of Clyde, 4 

 m. N. of Greenock 

 and 24 m. N.W. 

 o f Glasgow o n 

 the N.B. Rly. 

 The public build- 

 ings include the 

 municipal build- 

 Helensburgharms i n g s / Victoria 

 Halls, Hermitage School, and hospi- 

 tals. Founded in 1777 by Sir James 

 Colquhoun, after whose wife it was 

 named, Helensburgh has a pier 

 and esplanade. On the latter is a 

 monument to Henry Bell, the pio- 

 neer of steam navigation, who died 

 here in 1830. The council owns 

 the gas and water undertakings, 

 four parks and a recreation ground, 

 an abattoir and the harbour. The 

 beautiful grounds of the Hermitage 

 have been laid out for public use. 

 From Craigendoran, about 1 m. to 

 the E., steamers go to Dunoon and 

 other pleasure resorts on the west 

 coast ; and the W. Highland Rly. 

 branches off for Fort William, Mal- 

 laig, etc. Pop. 8,500. 



Helen's Tower. Three-storeyed 

 building, 3 m. S. of Clandeboye, 

 Belfast, Ireland. Situated on hi<*h 



Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, 

 south 



The esplanade looking 



Helen's Tower, near Belfast, built 



in memory of Helen Selina, Lady 



Dufferin 



Valentine 



ground, and approached from the 

 village of Conlig, between Craw- 

 fords burn and Newtownards, it 

 was built by the 1st marquess of 

 Dufferin in memory of his mother, 

 Helen Selina, Lady Dufferin (q.v. ). 

 It contains poetical tributes by 

 Tennyson, Browning, and Kipling, 

 and commands views of the Mourne 

 Mts., the Mull of Galloway, and 

 Isle of Man. See Belfast Lough. 



Helemis. In Greek legend, son 

 of Priam, king of Troy, noted for 

 his powers of prophecy. Taken 

 prisoner by the Greeks, to whom 

 he declared that Troy could never 

 be taken without the help of 

 Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus) andPhiloc- 

 tetes, after the capture of the city 

 he was allotted to Pyrrhus as part 

 of the spoils. He afterwards ac- 

 companied Pyrrhus to Epirus and 

 married An- 

 dromache, the 

 widow of Hec- 

 tor, becoming 

 king of the 

 country after 

 the death of 

 Pyrrhus. 



Helfferich, 

 KARL THEODOK 

 (1872-1924). 

 German poli- 

 tician. Born 

 Aug. 22, 1872, he 

 was educated at 

 Munich, Berlin, 

 and Strasbourg 

 universities. From 

 1901-4 he was 

 professor of politi- 

 cal science in the 

 university of Ber- 

 lin ; in 1904 he 

 became a pro- 

 fessor at Bonn. 

 An expert in 

 economics, he 

 entered the Ger- 

 man foreign office, 

 and was appointed 

 a director of the 

 Deutsche Bank in 

 1908. On the out- 

 break of the Great 



Karl T. Helfferich, 

 German politician 



War he was made 

 minister of fin- 

 ance. In 191 6 he 

 became secretary 

 for the interior 

 and imperial vice- 

 chancellor, and he 

 held these posi- 

 tions till Nov., 

 1917. He was 

 German ambassa- 

 dor to Russia, 

 July-Sept., 1918. 

 He was killed in 

 a rly. accident, 

 April 24, 1924. 



Helicon (Gr. 

 kelikon). Name 

 sometimes given to the circular 

 bombardon (q.v. ). The first mean- 

 ing of the Greek original is the 

 thread spun from the distaff to 

 the spindle, then a nine-stringed 

 instrument. 



Helicon (mod. Zagara). Mt. 

 in the S.W. of Boeotia, ancient 

 Greece. Its beautiful scenery caused 

 it to be popularly .regarded as the 

 home of the Muses, to whom there 

 was a temple and in whose honour 

 games were celebrated. The well 

 of Aganippe at its foot, and the 

 fountain of Hippocrene were also 

 sacred to them. Remains of the 

 temple, of a theatre, and of a 

 colonnade have been discovered. 

 See Mythology. 



Helicopter (Gr. helix, spiral ; 

 pteron, wing). Name given for the 

 type of flying machine which can 

 raise itself vertically by means of 

 horizontally revolving propellers 

 or air-screws. The advantages of 

 such a machine, especially for war 

 purposes, enabling it to rise and 

 land on the deck of a warship with 

 ease, hover in the air for scouting 

 purposes, and land in compara- 

 tively small areas, are so great 

 that many attempts have been 

 made to build a successful full- 

 sized helicopter, though as yet 



Helicopter. Model of flying machine desig ieu to rise 

 vertically from the ground. Two sets of biplane wings, 

 revolving in opposite directions, provide the lift. In 

 event of engine failure, wings act as ordinary biplane 

 wings for gliding to earth 



Y 5 



