HOSPITAL HOTTENTOTS. 



809 



t>alt and red lead or manganese in a vessel of any sort, 

 and then stirring into it a portion of oil of vitriol or 

 sulphuric acid. But above all, the rooms should be 

 well ventilated, and the clothes of all kinds should 

 be changed daily. 



HOSPITAL. See Hopital. 



HOSPITALITY. The rites of hospitality were 

 acknowledged and practised from the earliest anti- 

 quity, and in the most barbarous ages. Natural 

 feeling taught men to receive the stranger with kind- 

 ness, in times when there was no commercial inter- 

 course between different countries, and nothing but 

 necessity could induce an individual to leave his 

 home. We find hospitality enjoined in die Mosaic 

 writings, in the poems of Homer, as well as among 

 tlie Arabs, the Germans, and almost all the nations of 

 antiquity ; but different ideas were held in different 

 places as to the degree and extent of the service 

 which was due to the guest. In this respect no peo- 

 ple surpass the Arabs. Among them the host receives 

 the stranger who comes to his tent with fraternal 

 kindness. If his provisions fail, he conducts the guest 

 to his neighbour, who now entertains them both with 

 equal generosity. This simple custom was conse- 

 crated among the Greeks by their religion. Jupiter, 

 who was hence surnamed the hospitable (Xenios) was 

 the guardian of strangers, and the avenger of the 

 injuries offered them. As we learn from Homer, the 

 belief that the immortals sometimes appeared on 

 earth in human shape contributed to the observance 

 of the rites of hospitality. In the early times of 

 Greece, when increasing commercial intercourse com- 

 pelled men to make frequent journeys, individuals 

 entered into agreements to afford each other mutual 

 entertainment, whenever business should bring either 

 of them to the country of the other ; and this they 

 promised not only for themselves, but for their chil- 

 dren and. posterity. In Homer we find this custom 

 spoken of. The visitor was kindly saluted. He was 

 bathed, clothed, entertained, and his conversation 

 listened to with pleasure. After nine days, if the 

 stranger had not previously made himself known, the 

 question might be put to him, " Who and whence 

 art thou ?" If he declared himself to be connected 

 by ancient ties of hospitality between their ancestors, 

 his host was rejoiced to have renewed the ancient 

 bond. Still more welcome was the guest, if he could 

 show the half of the ring broken between their 

 fathers, in perpetual token of their agreement. The 

 host made presents to the guest at his departure, 

 which were carefully handed down in the family. 



HOSPITIUM (Latin; an inn) signifies either a 

 little convent belonging to a religious order, occupied 

 by a few monks, and destined to receive and enter- 

 tain travelling monks, or houses in uninhabited moun- 

 tains, erected for the purpose of receiving travellers 

 who have lost their way, or are exhausted by fatigue. 



HOST (from the Latin hostia, a victim for sacri- 

 fice.) Hostia means, in the Latin of the Christian 

 church, Jesus Christ, in so far as he sacrificed himself 

 for men ; and hostia, or host, is also used for the 

 bread (or wafer) and wine in the eucharist, as con- 

 taining the body and blood of Christ, among those 

 Christian sects who believe in the presence of Christ 

 in the bread and wine. As the wafer alone is given 

 to laymen in the Catholic church, as containing both 

 the body and blood of the Redeemer, the term host 

 is usually applied to the consecrated wafer. Common 

 bread was originally used at the Lord's supper ; but 

 bread baked particularly and solely for this purpose, 

 large, round oblatae, came into use, in the fourth cen- 

 tury, which it was customary to break after conse- 

 cration into as many pieces as there were communi- 

 cants. The hosts, or smaller wafers, were introduced 

 into the Latin church in the twelfth century. The 



Greeks use, for the eucharist, leavened bread, whilst 

 the Roman Catholics use unleavened wafers ; which 

 custom was followed by the Lutherans. It is well 

 known, that the Calvinists on the continent, not be- 

 lieving in transubstantiation or consubstantiation, 

 prefer unleavened bread to the wafers. This bread 

 has been adopted in Prussia in the new ritual for the 

 united Lutherans and Calvinists ; yet any person, 

 preferring the wafer, may have it, as, at the end of 

 the celebration of the Lord's supper, it is offered to 

 them. The Protestants in Britain and America use 

 common leavened bread. For the elevation of the 

 host, see Elevation, and for more information, see 

 Mass. 



HOSTILIUS. See Tullus Hostiliits. 



HOTEL (French); the mansion of a grand per- 

 sonage ; for instance, Hotel de Conde. Formerly the 

 palace of the king was simply called I 'hotel ; hence 

 grand prevot de V hotel. Hotel-Dieu is an appellation 

 for the ordinary hospitals of the sick; hence the nuns 

 of Hotel-Dieu. Hotel de Ville is, in France, the 

 town-house. Hotel is also used for an inn, like the 

 Italian osteria, with which it has a common origin, 

 both being derived from hostis. In this sense, it has 

 passed into the English language. 



HOTTENTOTS. The natives of the southern 

 part of Africa are reducible to two distinct families, 

 the Hottentots, and the Betjuanas or Bushwanas 

 (q. v.), to whom the Caffres (q. v.) are related. To 

 the former, or Hottentot family, belong also the Bos- 

 jesmans or Bushmen, the Koranas and the Namaquas. 

 When the European colony was first established at 

 the Cape, (see Cape of Good Hope,) the inhabitants 

 of the country between it and the Orange river were 

 Hottentots, divided into various tribes. Of a mode- 

 rate height, lean, with high cheek bones, thick lips, 

 small, half-closed eyes, woolly hair, a mild expression, 

 but indolent and unenterprising, they were despised 

 and oppressed by the colonists. Their filth and indo- 

 lence, and the harshness and poverty of their lan- 

 guage, led the Europeans to consider them as little bet- 

 ter than brutes, and by their treatment they almost 

 reduced them to that condition. But a kinder treat- 

 ment, introduced by the Moravian missionaries, has 

 shown them to be capable of civilization, and not to 

 be wanting in ingenuity and industry. The colonial 

 Hottentots, who were at one time rapidly diminishing 

 on account of the mode of life to which they were 

 reduced, increased in number from 17,431 to 30,549 

 between 1807 and 1823. Their mutual affection, 

 kindness, integrity, chastity, and hospitality are com- 

 mended by travellers who saw them while yet com- 

 paratively independent. The following exhibits the 

 costume of a male and female Hottentot. 



