H O O 



103 



H O O 



Honke. 



Moodily miles above Fort William, and rushes with great vio- 

 lence past Barnagore, Dnckinsore, &c. At Calcutta, 

 it sometimes occasions an instantaneous rise of five feet, 

 and, upon its approach, it is necessary for boats to quit 

 the shore, and go for safety into the middle of the 

 river. () 



HOOGHLY, a district in the province of Bengal, 

 extends along both sides of the river Hooghly, and is 

 situated principally between the 20 and 23 of North 

 Latitude. It is bounded on the north by the districts 

 of Burdwan and Kishenagur; on the south, by the sea; 

 on the west, by Midnapoor; and on the east, by Jes- 

 sore, and the Sunderbunds. It consists entirely of low, 

 flat, and fertile land ; but, though one of the earliest of 

 the East India Company's acquisitions, and immediate- 

 ly adjoining to the town of Calcutta, where a constant 

 market is found for its produce, three fourths of it still 

 remain in a state of nature, the habitation of alligators, 

 tigers, and reptiles. The division nearest to the sea, 

 particularly, is covered with jungle, and is remarkably 

 unhealthy, and thinly inhabited. Salt of an excellent 

 quality, (and possessing, in the opinion of the natives, 

 a peculiar sanctity, because extracted from the mud of 

 the most sacred branch of the Ganges,) is manufactured 

 on the coast for the government. The whole district 

 is intersected by rivers, so as to render it capable of 

 complete inland navigation ; but these remote streams 

 are greatly infested by river pirates, who rob in gangs, 

 and frequently apply torture for the purpose of extort- 

 ing the discovery of concealed property, (q) 



HOOGHLY, an ancient town in the last mentioned 

 province, situated on the west side of the river of the 

 same name, about 26 miles above Calcutta, in North 

 Latitude 22 54', and East Longitude 88 28'. It was 

 a place of considerable importance under the Mogul 

 government, and was the seat of their custom-house for 

 collecting the duties of merchandize carried up the 

 western branch of the Ganges. It is now comparative- 

 ly of little note, but still tolerably flourishing, and well 

 inhabited. The French, Dutch, Portuguese, and 

 Danes, had originally factories at Hooghly ; and, in 

 1632, while in the possession of the Portuguese, it was 

 the scene of the first serious quarrel between the Mo- 

 guls and Europeans. After a siege of three months 

 and a half, it was carried by assault by the Mogul ar- 

 my, and the greater part of the Portuguese were put 

 to the sword, or taken prisoners. In 1640, the Eng- 

 lish were permitted to build a factory at this place ; 

 but their trade was greatly restricted, and subject to 

 continual exactions. In 1686, they were involved in 

 hostilities with the native powers, in consequence of a 

 quarrel between some of their soldiers and those of the 

 nabob ; and though peace was speedily restored, they 

 withdrew their settlement to Chittanuttee, or Calcutta. 

 See Bruce's Annals nf the East India Company ; Ren- 

 nel's Memoir of a Map of Hindostan ; Lord Valentia's 

 Tra-rls ; and Hamilton's East India Gazetteer, (g) 



HOOKAH is the name of a pipe for smoking, in 

 great use among eastern nations. It consists of a glo- 

 bular vessel of glass, nearly filled with water, in which 

 two tubes are inserted ; a perpendicular one which holds 

 the tobacco, and an oblique one to which the mouth is 

 applied. The smoke is thus rendered peculiarly agree- 

 able, by passing through the water. 



HOOKE, ROBERT, an eminent natural philosopher, 

 was born at Freshwater, on the west side of the Isle of 

 Wight, on the 18th July 1635, and for the first seven 

 years of his life was in a very infirm state of health. 

 His father, who was the minister of the parish, edu- 



cated him under his own roof, as he had been such 

 a sickly child that he was not expected to live. He 

 was at first intended for the church, but after begin, 

 ning the Latin grammar, his health became so weak, 

 and he was so much subject to headache, that his 

 parents despaired of making him a scholar. Being 

 thus left to the direction of his own genius, he amused 

 himself in the formation of toys, and he even succeeded 

 in the construction of a wooden clock, that exhibited 

 in a rough manner the hours of the day, and in the 

 formation of a full rigged ship, about a yard long, 

 which had a contrivance for firing some small gur.s 

 as it sailed across a piece of water. This circum- 

 stance led his parents to the resolution of putting him 

 an apprentice to a watch-maker, or a painter; but by 

 the death of his father in 1648, neither of these plans 

 were adopted. He was placed, indeed, for a time un- 

 der the celebrated painter Sir Peter I.ely ; but he soon 

 found from experience, that he had chosen a profession 

 which the state of his health would not allow him to 

 prosecute. He was therefore sent to Westminster 

 school, and was kindly taken into Dr Busby's house, 

 where he made great progress in Latin, Greek, He- 

 brew, and other oriental languages. He made also 

 Considerable progress in Euclid, and, as Wood informs 

 us, he invented and communicated to Dr Wilkins thirty 

 different mr/des nf, flying ' 



In the year 1650 according to Mr Wood, and 1653 

 according to Mr Waller, he went to Christ's Church, Ox- 

 ford. In H>55 he was introduced to the Philosophical 

 Society there. He was employed to assist Dr Willis 

 in his chemical experiments ; and he afterwards la- 

 boured several years in the same capacity with Mr 

 Boyle. He received instructions in astronomy from 

 Dr Seth Ward, Savilian professor of that science in 

 Oxford, and was henceforth distinguished for the in- 

 vention of various astronomical and mechanical instru. 

 ments, and particularly for the air-pump which he con- 

 trived for Mr Boyle. 



In consequence of perusing Riccidlus's Almagest, which 

 Dr Ward put into his hands, be was led, in the years 

 1656, 1657, and 1658, to the invention of the balance 

 or pendulum spring, one of the greatest improvements 

 which has been made in the art of horology : (See 

 HOROLOGV, chap. iii. p. 137.) He mentioned this 

 discovery to Mr Boyle, who, as Dr Hooke remark?, 

 " immediately after his Majesty's restoration, was plea- 

 sed to acquaint the Lord "Brouncker and Sir Robert 

 Moray with it, who advised me to get a patent for the 

 invention ; and propounded very probable ways of 

 making considerable advantage by it. To induce them 

 to a belief of my performance, I shewed a pocket- watch, 

 accommodated with a spring applied to the arbor of the 

 balance to regulate the motion thereof. This was so well 

 approved of, that Sir Robert Moray drew me up the 

 form of a patent; the principal part whereof, viz. the 

 description of the watch so regulated, is in his own 

 hand-writing, which I have yet by me. The discou- 

 ragements I met with in the management of this affair, 

 made me desist for that time." In the agreement be- 

 tween Dr Hooke, Mr Boyle, Lord Brouncker, and Sir 

 Robert Moray, which seems to have been drawn up 

 about 1 663, it was provided, that out of the first 6000 of 

 profit, Dr Hooke was to have three-fourths; of the next 

 4000, two thirds ; and of the rest, one half: but the 

 other partners in the patent very improperly in- 

 sisted upon the insertion of a clause, giving to any of 

 themselves the sole benefit of whatever improvements 

 they might make upon his invention. 



Hooke. 





