HELIOSCOPE HELLE. 



673 



them. He threatened to descend into Orcus, and to 

 give light to the dead, if Jupiter did not punish 

 the criminals. The thunder dashed their vessel 

 to pieces, and sunk them in the waves. As he was 

 descended from the race of the Titans, he is often 

 called Titan. His worship was very extensively 

 diffused, and he had many temples and statues ; for 

 instance, in Corinth, Argos, Troezene, Elis, but par- 

 ticularly in Rhodes, where a team of four horses was 

 annually sacrificed to him, by being precipitated into 

 the sea. White lambs were also sacrificed to him. 

 Horses, wolves, cocks, and eagles were sacred to 

 him. He is represented as a youth, with most of his 

 body covered with clothing, and having his head 

 surrounded with rays. Sometimes he rides upon 

 a chariot drawn by four horses. See Apollo. 



HELIOSCOPE is a telescope, behind which the 

 image of the sun is received upon a plain surface. 

 An astronomical telescope is drawn out a little 

 further than is necessary for common use, and 

 directed towards the sun. The image which is 

 formed, is received in a dark place. For this pur- 

 pose, a dark chamber is employed, or the telescope 

 is placed in a dark funnel-shaped enclosure, the 

 bottom of which is covered with oiled paper, or 

 closed with ground glass, on which the sun's image 

 is formed. Upon this paper or glass a circle is 

 described equal to the image, and divided, by five 

 concentric circles, into twelve digits. With this 

 instrument the spots on the sun, eclipses, &c., may 

 be observed without injuring the eyes. For greater 

 exactness, however, it is better to observe the sun 

 through a telescope, the glasses of which are smoked 

 or coloured. Astronomical telescopes are commonly 

 provided with coloured plane glasses, which may be 

 screwed on when the sun is to be observed. 



HELIOTROPE. See Quartz. 



HELL, MAXIMILIAN, a learned astronomer, was 

 born in 1720, at Chemnitz, in Hungary, and first 

 educated at Neusohl. Having, in 1738, entered the 

 society of the Jesuits, he was sent to the college at 

 Vienna, where he exhibited a genius for mechanics. 

 He then applied to mathematics with great diligence, 

 and became assistant at the observatory belonging 

 to his order. In 1750, he published Adjumentum 

 Memoriae Manuale Chronologico-Genealogico-Histori- 

 cum, which has been translated into various lan- 

 guages. In 1752, he became professor of mathe- 

 matics at Clausenburg. From 1757 to 1786, he 

 published, annually, the Ephemerides, which is much 

 esteemed by astronomers. He was soon after recal- 

 led to Vienna, to be astronomer and director at the 

 new observatory. In 1769, at the desire of the king 

 of Denmark, he went to observe the transit of Venus, 

 in an island in the Frozen ocean. He died in 1792. 

 Hell is to be ranked among those who have rendered 

 essential services to astronomy. 



HELLAS, HELLENES, HELLENISM ('EXXas, 

 'Exxvef). Hellas, in a narrower sense, was Greece 

 Proper, with its eight states (the modern Livadia, 

 q. v.); in a more extensive sense, it signified all 

 Greece, with the islands and colonies. Hellenes is 

 the general name of the Grecians. (See Greece.) 

 They are said to have derived their name from 

 Helen, who contributed to the civilization of the 

 Pelasgi, the earliest inhabitants of Greece. The 

 term Hellenes is therefore used sometimes in op- 

 position to Pelasgi, and then we understand by it 

 that cultivated race of men, who inhabited Greece, 

 and have become immortal in history. The first 

 dawn of civilization was spread from Thessaly among 

 the Pelasgian savages, by the descendants of Pro- 

 metheus. It is not therefore strange, tliat with the 

 name of Hellenes were associated the ideas of greater 

 refinement and superior genius. The question, How 

 in. 



did the savage tribes of Greece acquire the improved 

 character of Hellenes ? may be answered by a con- 

 sideration of the following causes : 1. The influence 

 of a favourable climate. In a land abounding in 

 natural beauties, in a climate which is neither relax- 

 ing by heat, nor contracting by cold, the mental 

 faculties are naturally developed with greater energy. 

 2. A finer original organization of the Greek race. 

 3." From these causes arose the natural activity, 

 vivacity and inquisitiveness of the nation, a lively 

 imagination, ingenuous feeling, a fine sense of 

 the beautiful and the true in science and in the 

 arts. Curiosity became the mother of knowledge. 

 Opportunities for satisfying it were afforded by the 

 conflux of so many tribes, general emigrations, 

 voyages, and early intercourse with civilized nations. 

 4. The political freedom, and the peculiar constitu- 

 tion of the nation, which was divided into many 

 small republics. This circumstance facilitated the 

 development of every talent according to its natural 

 bent. 5. The situation of the country, and the fre- 

 quent intercourse of the people with other nations. 

 6. The comforts and pleasures of life, and the spirit 

 of social intercourse which existed among them. 

 By the exemption of the people from heavy taxes 

 and other public burdens of despotic governments, 

 the number of persons enjoying competency was in- 

 creased. 7. Their education, according to which 

 man was not made a mere machine of the state and 

 of prejudices, and his faculties were allowed to unfold 

 freely and harmoniously. 8. Freedom of thought. 

 As there was no separate class of priests, the intellect 

 and imagination expatiated freely on the subject of 

 religion. Their religion gave them a form of wor- 

 ship, but imposed no constraint. It was less mysti- 

 cal in its tendency than plastic, and was formed and 

 refined by poetry. Hence their fanciful and bright 

 conceptions, and traditions of their gods, from which 

 the plastic art created its divine forms and beautiful 

 ideals. Even what the G reeks borrowed from foreign 

 nations, became Grecian in their hands. From the 

 shapeless fetiches, they first made images in the 

 human form, and obtained from their national tradi- 

 tions a race of gods in the shape of men. 9. By this 

 their attention was directed to what constitutes the 

 true dignity of man. Frequent political and social 

 intercourse cultivated a practical knowledge of man, 

 which formed and strengthened in the Greeks a 

 spirit of observation, for which their poets, orators, 

 and philosophers are so highly distinguished. The 

 forms of their political constitutions, which caused 

 every thing to be transacted in public, afforded them 

 a full field for exercise. How otherwise could be 

 explained, at so early an age, those striking represen- 

 tations of character, that rich knowledge of mankind, 

 that power of creating and developing ideas, that 

 expressive and pathetic language ? This is there- 

 fore a main point in Greek civilization and refine- 

 ment, which explains some of the most beautiful 

 traits of Grecian genius. 10. Some great geniuses, 

 who fortunately sprung up in this nation. Where 

 free observation is united with natural feelings and a 

 lively imagination, there are the elements of poetry 

 and art, which, however, can reach perfection only 

 by a particular favour of nature. Great minds ap- 

 peared of a truly Grecian character, and the effect 

 they have produced, by their creations, is well 

 known. It was under so rare a union of favourable 

 circumstances, that the genius which cliaracterized 

 the inhabitants of ancient Greece, as Hellenes, was 

 developed ; and it is not strange that the word Hel- 

 lenic or Grecian immediately awakens in us an idea 

 of something beautiful in literature or art. 



HELLE; in heathen mythology, a daughter of 

 Athamas and Nephele, sister to Phryxus. She fled 

 2 n 



