r>e la Hire. 



HIP 



Hippocrates He was also in the practice of shaking violently the 

 patient's body, with a view to detach the matter from 

 the parts to which it adhered. In diseases of the head 

 he first applied fomentations, and then excited sneezing 

 for bringing off the phlegm 



In pharmacy he made extensive improvements. His 

 preparations are diversified in their composition and 

 consistence, so as to answer minutely the various pur- 

 poses of external medicine. He paid great attention to 

 the diversities of state, and the shades of morbid sensa- 

 tion in diseased parts, and nicely adapted to them the 

 forms of his remedies. In this respect he may often 

 serve for a model to correct the gross ideas of those 

 vho exclusively venerate the agency of powerful sim- 

 ples. As a surgical author, Hippocrates had great me- 

 rit ; though the vigour of his practice in this department 

 sometimes exceeded the bounds of moderation. He 

 placed great reliance on the revulsion produced by 

 powerful discharges by means of blood-letting, and 

 which was assisted by the use of cupping instruments ; 

 and when this failed, he formed extensive and deep ul- 

 cers, by the actual cautery. A full account of the opi- 

 nions, theoretical and practical, of this ancient author, 

 would fill a large volume. In this country, an ac- 

 quaintance with them is, even among medical men, 

 reckoned an object of curiosity rather than an attain- 

 ment necessary to the physician ; but the perusal of 

 the works of Hippocrates himself has an excellent ten- 

 dency to cherish in the mind of a professional man, 

 that zeal for the objects of his art, and that keen and 

 persevering attention to his duties, which rentiers his 

 life most satisfactory to himself, and most useful to so- 

 ciety. See Le Clerc'sHis'.oire de la Medicine ; Fabricius ; 

 also' the I Afe of Hippocrates, by Soranus; and the intro- 

 duction to Pinel's Nosngranhie Pliilnsophique. ( H. D. ) 



HIPPOCRENE. See HELICON, vol. x. p. 703. 



HIPPOPOTAMUS. See MAMMALIA. 



HIRE, PHILIP DE LA, an eminent and industrious 

 French astronomer, was born at Paris on the 18th 

 March 1740. His father was painter to the king, and 

 instructed his son in the same art, particularly in draw- 

 ing, and such branches of the mathematics as related 

 to his profession. In the year 1761, three years after 

 he had lost his father, Dela Hire went into Italy to re- 

 establish his health, and to study those fine models of 

 painting and sculpture which every artist was ambi- 

 tious to imitate ; but, during the three years which he 

 spent in that country, he discovered that he was more 

 fitted to excel in astronomy and geography than in the 



8 HIS 



fine arts, and he henceforth devoted his whole time to De U Hire 

 these interesting studies. 



Upon his return to Paris, he was nominated one of H^p*"^ 

 the members of the Academy of Sciences; and in 1699, 

 he was named Pensionnaire Geomrtre. Between the 

 years 1678 and 1718, he published no fewer than two 

 "hundrfd and forty-four memoirs on almost every branch 

 of mathematics and natural philosophy. 



When the great Colbert had resolved to make a cor- 

 rect map of France, De la Hire was associated with 

 M. Picard in this important duty, which occupied him 

 for several years. In 1 683, he was employed in con- 

 tinuing to the north of Paris the meridian which Picard 

 had begun in 1669, while Cassini was employed in ex- 

 tending it to the south. The death of Colbert having 

 put an end to this great undertaking, De la Hire was 

 next employed in the formation of the great water- 

 works with which Louis XIV. embellished his palaces. 

 De la Hire filled also the situation of royal profe&sor 

 of mathematics and architecture, and was much esteem- 

 ed among his countrymen. His name, however, is not 

 associated with any great invention or discovery; and 

 we are called upon only to admire the extent of his 

 knowledge, and the persevering industry which he ex- 

 hibited both in acquiring it for himself and in commu- 

 nicating it to others. The works which he published 

 separately were, 



1 . Nouveaux Elemens des Sections Coniques. Paris, 

 1678, 1 vol. 12mo. 



2. La Gnomonique. 1682. 



S. Traite du Nivellement de M. Picard, avec des 

 additions. Paris, 1684. 



4>. Sectiones Conicae in novem Libris distributse. 

 Paris, 1685, folio. 



5. Traite du mouvement des eaux et des autres corps 

 fiuides; ouvrage Posthume de M. Mariotte. 1686. 



6. Ecole des Arpenteurs. 1 689. 



7. Traite de Mecanique. 1695, 1 vol. 12mo. 



8. Tabulae Astronomiae Ludovici Magni jussu et 

 munificentia exaratas. 1702. 



De la Hire died on the 28th April 1718, and left be- 

 hind him a son, Gabriel Philip de la Hire, who was 

 much esteemed as a physician, and who published seve- 

 ral papers on medicine and natural philosophy in the 

 Memoirs of the Academy from 1699 to 1720. 



HIRUDO. See INTESTINA. 



HIRUNDO. See ORNITHOLOGY. 



HISPANIA. See SPAIN. 



HISPANIOLA. See ST DOMINGO. 



HISTORY. 



History. 1 \ this article it is proposed, in the first place, to point 

 ""Y" * out and explain the various advantages of the study of 

 Division of history ; secondly, to enumerate those branches of study 

 the subject, which ought to be entered upon, previous to, or con- 

 temporary with the study of history; thirdly, to give 

 a brief and rapid sketch of the order in which ancient 

 and modern general histories may most conveniently 

 and advantageously be read ; fourthly, to point out the 

 order in which the history of particular countries may 

 be read, so that they may be illustrative of one another; 

 fifthly, to notice the different species of history besides 

 what is emphatically called History. 



Advantages ! With respect to the advantages which may be de- 

 of the study rived from the study of history, they are various and 

 of history, important : if the value of that department of science 



is to be rated highest, which combines advantages of History. 

 the most obvious and beneficial nature, history pos- 

 sesses a very strong claim to our attention and study. 

 It is equally attractive to the unreflecting and phi- 

 losophical mind : the former it interests by the excita- 

 tion of novelty ; the latter by the usefulness and import- 

 ance of the general principles which may be deduced 

 from the facts which it records. But perhaps the uti- 

 lity and value of this branch of study cannot be placed 

 in a more obvious and conspicuous point of view, than 

 by stating that it combines amusement of the deepest 

 interest ; the exercise and improvement of the best fa- 

 culties of man ; and the acquisition of the most import- 

 ant species of knowledge. A source o 

 History, considered merely as a source of amusement, 



