HARPER 



2693 



HARPOON 



This included seven pedals, by means of which 

 each note of the scale, in all the different 

 octaves, can be made a semitone higher. By 

 Errard's invention of the double-action pedal 

 harp in 1820, the instrument reached its high- 

 est development. 

 This improve- 

 ment permitted 

 two changes in 

 the length of the 

 strings, with cor- 

 responding 

 changes in the 

 tone. The in- 

 sistent and mel- 

 lowed sweetness 

 of the harmony 

 and the artistic 

 appearance of 

 the instrument 

 render it an ef- 

 fective medium 

 for orchestral and 

 recital music. As 

 many as eight 

 harps figure in 

 the final scene of 

 Wagner's opera 

 Das Rheingold. 



H A R'P E R, 

 WILLIAM 



(1856-1906), an 

 American educator, first president of the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago and the real inspiration of 

 much of its greatness. He was born at New 

 Concord, Ohio, studied at Muskingum College 

 and at Yale, and in 1879 became professor of 

 Hebrew at the Union Theological Seminary 

 (Baptist) in Chicago. There he established an 

 unusual reputation as a Hebrew scholar, and 

 in 1886 was made professor of Semitic lan- 

 guages at Yale. In 1891, when the new Uni- 

 versity of Chicago was founded, he was called 

 to be its head, and proved himself no less 

 noteworthy as an administrator than as a 

 scholar. After a notable career of nearly fif- 

 teen years at the university his heroic struggle 

 with disease and his determination to keep 

 on with his work in the face of suffering and 

 of death won for him wide respect and 

 admiration. His publications almost all deal 

 with some phase of Hebrew language or lit- 

 erature, and include Elements of Hebrew, 

 Elements oj Hebrew Syntax and Amos and 

 Hosea. He also wrote The Trend of Higher 

 Education and edited the Biblical World, the 



THE HARP 



The standard size has the col- 

 umn 64 inches high ; the ex- 

 treme width is 33 inches. It 

 has 43 strings, the longest of 

 RAINEY which is 57 inches. The 

 weight averages 53 pounds. 



American Journal of Theology and the Ameri- 

 can Journal of Semitic Languages and Litera- 

 ture. 



For illustration of "Harper Memorial Library," 

 see CHICAGO, UNIVERSITY OF. 



HARPER'S FERRY, an historic village of 

 West Virginia, made famous by John Brown's 

 raid in 1859, one of the critical events preced- 

 ing the War of Secession. Located on the 

 Potomac, fifty-five miles northwest of Wash- 

 ington, where the river breaks through the 

 Blue Ridge Mountains and meets the Shenan- 

 doah, the town is very picturesque and was 

 considered a strategical point by the Confed- 

 erate government. At the outbreak of the War 

 of Secession the small band of Union soldiers 

 who occupied the garrison departed, leaving 

 the place to the militia from Virginia under 

 General Johnston. Two months later Johnston 

 abandoned it and Union soldiers again took 

 possession. For over a year they occupied the 

 town, until, on September 15, 1862, General 

 Jackson captured it, taking 12,520 prisoners. 

 At present the population numbers about 750. 



HARPIES, hahr'piz, a Greek word meaning 

 the snatchers, were in Greek mythology the 

 ministers of divine vengeance, defiling every- 

 thing they touched. A harpy was represented 

 as a winged monster, having the face and body 

 of a woman, the wings of a bird of prey and 

 with feet and fingers armed with sharp claws. 

 The harpies were generally supposed to be 

 two or three in number, but occasionally sev- 

 eral others were mentioned; Homer refers to 

 but one. Originally they wer,e conceived to 

 be storm winds, but were later represented as 

 winged maidens, their general characteristics 

 being hideously repulsive. 



HARPOON ' , a word derived from the French 

 harpon, (grappling iron), is the name of a 

 weapon used for capturing large fish and whales. 

 In its oldest form it consisted of a triangular 

 piece of iron with strong, sharpened barbs on 

 each side, attached to a handle about three 

 feet long, to which was fastened a long rope. 

 It was thrown by hand at the object of attack. 

 The harpoon now in most common use is 

 known as the toggle iron, and is a long, 

 pointed shaft in which a pivoted crosspiece is 

 fastened near the end. After the shaft has 

 penetrated the whale's tissue and the rope is 

 pulled, the crosspiece sets at right angles and 

 prevents its withdrawal. The boat draws 

 closer to the whale as the rope is hauled in, 

 and the animal is then killed by a lance. A 

 harpoon gun is a form of gun from which a 



