HERCYNIAN 



3952 



HEREDITY 



J. G. von Herder, 

 German critic 



Hercynian Forest. In ancient 

 geography, a vast forested moun- 

 tain region N. of the Danube. 

 Caesar in his commentaries on the 

 Gallic war says it took nine days to 

 cross, while in some parts 60 days' 

 march did not avail to reach its 

 limits. It seems to have included 

 the modern Switzerland, the entire 

 Alpine mass, Transylvania, and 

 part of Russia. 



Herd Book. Publication issued 

 annually by the special societies 

 interested in the different breeds of 

 cattle and pigs It registers the 

 pedigree stock of members, defines 

 the points and settles the method of 

 judging. (See Cattle. 



Herder, JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON 

 (1744-1803). German critic and 

 poet. He was born at Mohrungen, 

 East Prussia, - 

 Aug. 25, 1744, I 

 o f h H in h 1 c 

 parentage. 

 After early 

 struggles he 

 managed to 

 enter Konigs- 

 berg Univer- 

 sity, where he 

 was much in- 

 fluenced by 

 Kant. He became a school teacher 

 and pastor at Riga in 1764, and 

 thanks to Goethe's interest became 

 first preacher at Weimar, 1776. 

 He had already published strong 

 criticisms of Lessing's Laocoon, in 

 Kritische Walder (Critical Forests), 

 1769, and other writings. 



Herder occupied a dominating 

 position among the literary critics 

 of his period. His love for the 

 songs of the people as supporting 

 his theory that poetry was the 

 natural language of man bore fruit 

 in his Stimmen der Volker in Lie- 

 dern (Voices of the Nations in 

 Song), 1778-79, and other works. 

 One of his chief works is the Ideen 

 zur Philosophic der Geschichte des 

 Menschheit (Ideas on the Philoso- 

 phy of the History of Mankind), 

 1784-91, Eng. trans. 1800. It is 

 notable for its anticipation of the 

 evolutionary theory. In 1789 

 Herder was made vice-president of 

 the consistory at Weimar. He 

 died at Weimar, Dec. 18, 1803. 

 See Herder and his Times, H. 

 Nevinson, 1884. 



Herdman, ROBERT (1829-87). 

 Scottish painter. Born at Rattray, 

 Perthshire, he studied at the Trus- 

 tees' Academy, Edinburgh. His 

 best work was in portraiture. 

 Among his sitters were the count- 

 ess of Strathmore, 1876 ; Sir George 

 Harvey, 1874 ; Thomas Carlyle, 

 1875; Principal Tulloch, 1879; 

 and Sir Noel Paton, 1879. He also 

 produced some delicately rendered 

 historical subjects. He became 



A.R.S.A., 1858, and R.S.A., 1863. 

 Herdman died in Edinburgh on 

 Dec. 31, 1887. See Antiquary; 

 Deans, Effie. 



Herdman, SIR WILLIAM ABBOTT 

 (1858-1924). British scientist. Bom 

 in Edinburgh, Sept. 8, 1858, he 

 studied at the 

 academy and 

 uni versity 

 there. His 

 chief subject of 

 study was 

 zoology, and 

 having been on 

 the Challenger 

 expedition, he 

 was for a short Sir W. A. Herdman, 

 time a demon- Britoh scientist 

 strator of zo- Ruise " 



ology hi Edinburgh. In 1881 he was 

 made professor of natural history at 

 Liverpool University and began his 

 work of investigating the ocean. He 

 helped to found a marine biological 

 station at Port Erin, Isle of Man, 

 while for the British government he 

 investigated the pearl fisheries of 

 Ceylon. Herdman served the British 

 Association as general secretary, 

 while in 1920 he was its president. 

 His many honours include a F.R.S. 

 and his writings The Fauna of 

 Liverpool Bay, 1896-1900. In 

 1919 he became the first professor 

 of oceanography at Liverpool. 

 He died,July 21, 1924. 



Heredia. Prov. and town of Cen- 

 tral Costa Rica, Central America. 

 The surface is mountainous, the 

 highest point being the peak of 

 Desengano, in the centre of the 

 prov., which attains an elevation of 

 6,310 ft. The uplands afford splen- 

 did pastures for the rearing of 

 cattle, and the fertile valleys pro- 

 duce much coffee, which is ex- 

 ported. Pop. 72,736. 



Heredia, the capital of the prov., 

 stands on a plateau at an alt. of 



J. M. de Heredia, 

 French poet 



3,785 ft., about 5 m. by rly. N. of 

 San Jose. It is a well-planned 

 town, with wide streets, substantial 

 buildings, and up-to-date con- 

 veniences, including electric light, 

 etc. Pop. 9,328. 



Heredia, Jos 6 MARIA DE (1842- 

 1905). French poet. Born at For- 

 tuna Capeyere, Santiago de Cuba 

 Nov. 22, 1842, 

 of mixed 

 French and 

 Spanish 

 origin, he was 

 educated i n 

 Paris, and 

 early became 

 a disciple o f 

 Lee on te de 

 Lisle, and a 

 mem ber of 

 the Parnassian school of poets. 

 His sonnets, collected under the 

 title of Les Trophees, 1893, place 

 him among the greatest sonnet- 

 writers. He died Oct. 3, 1905. 



Heredia, PEDRO AND ALONSO DE. 

 Two brothers who conquered Co- 

 lombia for Spain between 1530 and 

 1545. Pedro was the founder of 

 the city of Cartagena. 



Hereditament (late Lat. here- 

 ditarc, to inherit). Term of English 

 law. It refers to property that can 

 be inherited, i.e. which goes to the 

 heir and not to the personal repre- 

 sentative. The term is wider than 

 the term real property. It includes 

 titles, ad vowsons, rights of common, 

 rights of way, certain offices, e.g. 

 the office of earl marshal of Eng- 

 land is hereditary in the family of 

 the dukes of Norfolk, dignities, e.g. 

 peerages and baronetcies, fran- 

 chises, e.g. markets and ferries, 

 pensions, annuities, and rents. 

 Some of these, such as rights of 

 common and rents, issue out of 

 land ; others are purely personal, as 

 peerages and pensions. 



HEREDITY: INHERITED CHARACTERISTICS 



J. Arthur Thomson, Regius Prof, of Natural History, Aberdeen 



The group of articles to which this belongs includes Biology; 



Eugenics; Evolution; Life; Mendelism ; Sex. See the biographies 



of the great biologists and naturalists, e.g. Darwin ; Gallon ; 



Lamarck ; Wallace. See also Cell ; Family ; Instinct 



Heredity is the vital or organic 

 relation between successive genera- 

 tions which secures the general per- 

 sistence of characteristic resem- 

 blances between offspring and their 

 parents, and yet allows new ones 

 to emerge. Some use the word to 

 include all the causes or factors 

 which determine the resemblance 

 between individuals who are related 

 to one another ; others say that he- 

 redity is the fact that like tends to 

 beget like; and others that heredity 

 is the past living on in the present. 

 But it must be understood that 

 heredity is no mysterious force 



or principle ; it is the flesh and blood 

 linkage, the germinal continuity, 

 binding one generation to another. 

 In mankind, one generation may 

 influence the next by tradition and 

 institutions, by literature and art, 

 and in similar ways which form the 

 social heritage. This usage would 

 leave the term " natural inherit- 

 ance " for all that is handed on by 

 means of the germ-cells, namely 

 the egg-cell and the sperm-cell. 



In mammals, where, with few 

 exceptions, the unborn offspring is 

 carried by the mother, the natural 

 inheritance of the offspring may be 



