HYSTERICS IBARRA. 



27 



hypochondria with men, the difference which really 

 exists arising from the peculiar character and con- 

 stitution of women. It arises from a morbid ex- 

 citement of the nervous system, and manifests itself 

 by great uneasiness, unusual susceptibility, occasion- 

 ing great trouble, often from imaginary causes, and 

 affecting the sufferer even to tears. To these is 

 added the sensation of a ball mounting from the ab- 

 domen, and particularly from the pit of the stomach, 

 where the most important nerves concentre, and 

 occasioning a feeling of strangulation. From the 

 greater susceptibility in the system of women, these 

 affections are more universal, and appear quicker in 

 other parts of the body, particularly in the muscles, 

 than in men. Hence spasms of various kinds, 

 contractions of the neck, pains in the head, faint- 

 ing fits, palpitation of the heart, appear very fre- 

 quently, and are sometimes so severe, that persons 

 afflicted with them seem to be dying. These com- 

 plaints were once ascribed to vapours arising from 

 the stomach, and were called by that name. They 



were once very fashionable among the ladies. Wo- 

 men of a delicate habit, and whose nervous system 

 is extremely sensible, are the most subject to hys- 

 terical affections ; and the habit which predisposes 

 to these attacks is acquired by inactivity and a sed- 

 entary life, grief, anxiety, and various physical dis- 

 orders. They are readily excited, in those who are 

 subject to them, by strong emotions, especially if 

 sudden: Hysterical complaints are best prevented 

 by a judicious care of the moral and physical educa- 

 tion of girls. Men of uncommon nervous sensibility 

 are sometimes subject to disorders not essentially 

 different. 



HYSTERON PROTERON ; two Greek words, 

 meaning the last first ; hence it is used for an ana- 

 chronism, but chiefly to designate, in grammar, the 

 figure in which that word which should follow is used 

 first ; for instance, Valet atque vivet (he is well and 

 lives). It is often used to produce a comic effect; 

 for instance, All the world and Cork talked of it. 



I ; the ninth letter in the English alphabet, and the 

 third vowel. The English language is the only one 

 known to us, which denotes, by this same character, 

 the two totally different sounds of i (as in pine) and 

 <f (as in pin). In all other languages of Western 

 Europe, it has the sound of in pin and ee in beef, 

 which is the same vowel, only in the former case short, 

 in the latter, long. Those languages which have the 

 sound i in pine express it by a diphthong; for instance, 

 the German by ei and ai; and it is, in fact, a real 

 diphthong. The continental i, corresponding to the 

 English ee, is produced by breathing out, whilst the 

 lips are slightly parted, the mouth drawn back a little 

 at the corners, and the tongue curved upwards, yet 

 not so as to touch the roof of the mouth. If the 

 tongue touches the roof of the mouth, the lips re- 

 maining in the same position, the sound of j is pro- 

 duced, which change takes place, particularly if i pre- 

 cedes another vowel. This circumstance, and the near 

 affinity of the two sounds, are the reason that, in 

 some languages, particularly in Latin, they have the 

 same character ; hence it was said, f is a vowel in 

 some cases, and a consonant in others. In all Latin 

 words of Latin origin, i preceding a vowel (unless it 

 follows another vowel), is a consonant, as lanus 

 (Janus), coniicio (conjicio) ; but in words of Greek 

 origin, it is a vowel, as iambus, iaspis. In words of 

 Hebrew origin, it varies ; in lacobus (Claudian, epigr. 

 27), it is a vowel : in ludeeus, a consonant. With 

 the propagation of Christianity, Latin became, in 

 many respects, the model of other languages, and 

 this peculiarity of t was also adopted by most of 

 them ; so that, even after two different signs (the f 

 and j) had been adopted for the vowel and the con- 

 sonant sound of i, they nevertheless were, and still 

 are, mixed together in dictionaries ; but the fact 

 that they are distinct in nature (though nearly akin) , 

 and have distinct characters, sufficiently authorizes us 

 to separate them. As the position of the mouth re- 

 quired for pronouncing the i of the European conti- 

 nent (ee) is such, that it can easily be assumed from 

 the position necessary for the pronunciation of other 

 rowels, we find i, in many languages, the final vowel 



of several diphthongs; as, in German, ei, ai ; in 

 French, ai, oi, ui, &c" ; and these sounds at last ac- 

 tually became one. In the Greek, the i (iota) was 

 always a vowel. As a numeral, it signified ten ; with 

 a little line under it (J_), ten thousand. The Romans 

 used I to signify one, and they continued to count with 

 it up to four (I, II, III, 1111). The Roman I, put 

 before a V, takes away the value of one ; hence IV 

 is equal to four ; and, placed after V, it adds one ; 

 hence VI is equal to six. The dot over the f origi- 

 nated in the fourteenth century. I, on Roman coins, 

 was the mark of the as. in value and weight. As an 

 initial letter, it stands for ideea, imperator, imperil, 

 indulgentia, invictus, &c. It is a French proverb of 

 a person occupied with trifles // met les points sur 

 les i (he is dotting his i's). 



IAMBUS, in prosody ; a foot of two syllables, a 

 short and a long one. In Latin, the iambic verse 

 consists of four, six, or (in the comic writers) even of 

 eight feet. The odd feet, i. e., the first, third, and 

 fifth, may be iambuses, spondees, anppaists, dactyles, 

 or tribrachs, (but never trochees). The even feet, 

 however, or the second, fourth, and sixth, must be 

 iambuses. The more iambuses there are in the verse, 

 the more beautiful it is considered. An iambic verse 

 of four feet is called a quaternarius ; one of six, a 

 senarius; one of eight, an octonarius. The German 

 language, having a prosody, has, of course, the 

 iambus, and makes great use of it in poetry. The 

 iambic metre is also the fundamental rhythm of many 

 English verses. 



IAR; a Russian word, signifying bank, and ap- 

 pearing in many geographical names ; as, laroslaf, 

 bank of the Sclavonics. 



I ARE AS. See Dido. 



IBARRA, JOACHIM, printer to the king of Spain, 

 was born at Saragossa, and died Nov. 23, 1785, fifty- 

 nine years old. He raised the art of typography to 

 an excellence before unequalled in Spain. From his 

 press were issued magnificent editions of the Bible, the 

 Mo/arabic Missal, Mariana's History of Spain, Don 

 Quixote, and the Spanish translation of Sallust. The 

 latter, which appeared in one folio volume, in 1772, 



