HELLEBORE 



2764 



HELMET 



henna. Christian sects differ greatly in their 

 opinions as to the length and kind of punish- 

 ment inflicted in hell. 



HELLEBORE, hel' e bohr, a group of poison- 

 ous plants belonging to the buttercup family, 

 represented in the United States and Canada 

 by only two of the dozen known species. 

 Black hellebore, so-called because of its black 

 rootstock, is the source of a powerful poison, 

 which, because of its purgative and emetic 

 qualities, is sometimes used sparingly in medi- 

 cine. In England it is known as the Christmas 

 rose, for its bold white flowers appear in winter. 

 A species known to the ancient Greeks, called 

 Oriental hellebore, was supposed by them to be 

 a remedy for insanity. White hellebore is the 

 name of a plant of the lily family. Its roots, 

 dried and ground to powder, are used as an 

 insecticide. 



HELLESPONT, hel'espont, the ancient 

 name of the narrow channel which connects the 

 Sea of Marmora with the Aegean Sea and now 

 called the Dardanelles. It was named after 

 Helle, daughter of the king of Bceotia, who fell 

 from the back of the ram with the Golden 

 Fleece during her flight from the wrath of Ino, 

 and was drowned in the channel. In legend 

 and poetry the Hellespont is famed as the 

 channel across which Leander swam nightly to 

 visit the priestess Hero, and in which he lost 

 his life when the light in her tower failed to 

 guide him. It is said that Lord Byron also 

 swam the Hellespont, though he was lame and 

 had not the loverlike reasons that prompted 

 Leander. See DARDANELLES. 



HELL GATE. The early Dutch settlers who 

 came to New Amsterdam (New York) discov- 

 ered in the East River, between Long Island 

 and Manhattan Island, a channel so dangerous 

 that they felt no name but Hell Gate would 

 fit it. From each end a tide poured in, with 

 resulting whirlpools, eddies and conflicting 

 breakers. To multiply its dangers to naviga- 

 tion, under the surface at high tide, but pro- 

 jecting well above it at low water, were numer- 

 ous jagged reefs, about which the angry waters 

 whirled. Early navigators avoided the pass 

 when they could, but as settlements grew, com- 

 merce grew also, and the use of this channel be- 

 came more and more necessary. Even practiced 

 navigators took their sailing vessels through it 

 reluctantly, Because one boat in every fifty 

 that attempted to go through it was ripped 

 open by the rocks or broken in the whirlpools. 



In 1851 the first attempts were made to make 

 the channel less difficult and dangerous. Sur- 



face blasting was first resorted to, and the tops 

 of several reefs were blown away; later, when 

 the United States government took up the 

 task, the reefs 

 were undermined 

 and destroyed by 

 great charges of 

 dynamite. The 

 last of these oper- 

 ations, in 1885, 

 left a channel 200 

 feet wide and 

 twenty - six feet 

 deep at low 

 water, which per- 

 mits the passage 

 of large ocean- 

 going vessels. 

 Hell Gate is thus 

 Hell Gate no 

 longer, but the 



HELL, GATE BRIDGE 



Opened for traffic January 



nnma rorrminc o 1> 1917. It has not only the 

 name remains as largest arch> but ls the he avi- 



a reminder of its est bridge in the world. The 

 span is 1,016 feet long, and 



past. the top of the arch is 300 feet 



A n r> t Q h 1 o above the water. Over 500,- 



e 000 cubic yards of concrete 



bridge now spans were used in its construction, 



. of which 110,000 cubic feet 



the river at this are in the two towers. Its 



nnint Tt i m* carrying capacity is thirty- 

 point. It is one eight tons for every linear 



of the great engi- foot The bridge cost $25,- 

 neering feats of 



the twentieth century in concrete construction. 

 HELMET, a defensive steel covering for the 

 head, sometimes called a "war hat," which re- 

 gained something of its former prestige, if not 

 splendid appearance, in the War of the Nations 

 in 1914, when a new steel helmet which would 



RELICS OF A BYGONE AGE 

 (a) Greek; (&) Roman; (c) fourteenth cen- 

 tury; (d) seventeenth century. 



stop a bullet was considered essential in the 

 outfitting of soldiers. By means of this device 

 thousands of infantrymen were saved from the 

 hail of bullets fired by machine guns. Hereto- 

 fore for centuries the steel helmet, as part of a 

 soldier's protective covering, has been mainly 

 considered from an historical viewpoint. In the 

 Middle Ages, thin metal helmets were made in 

 various styles and were provided with flaps and 

 bars for protection. With the invention of the 



