HER 
to him who is next heir of blood, and not 
to an executor or administrator, as chattels 
do. It is a word of large extent, and much 
used in conveyances ; for by the grant of 
hereditaments, isles, seignories, manors, 
houses, and lands of all sorts, charters, rents, 
services, advowsons, commons, and what- 
ever may be inherited, will pass. Heredi- 
taments are of two kinds, corporeal and 
incorporeal. Corporeal hereditaments con- 
sist wholly of substantial and permanent 
objects, all which may be comprehended 
under the general denomination of land 
only ; for land comprehends, in its legal 
signification, any ground, soil, or earth what- 
soever, as arable, meadows, pastures, woods, 
moors, waters, marches, furzes, and heath. 
Incorporeal hereditaments are not the ob- 
ject of sensation, are creatures of the mind, 
and exist only in contemplation. They are 
principally of ten sorts, viz. advowsons, 
tithes, commons, ways, offices, dignities, 
franchises, presents, and rents. 
HERIOT, in law, signifies a tribute 
given to the lord for his better preparation 
towards war. And by the laws of Canute, 
it appears, that at the death of the great 
men of this nation, so many horses and arms 
were to be paid for, as they were in their 
respective life-times obliged to keep for the 
King’s service. A heriot. was first paid in 
arms and horses ; it is now by some custom 
sometimes the best live beast which the te- 
nant dies possessed of, sometimes the best 
inanimate goods, under which a jewel or 
piece of plate may be included. Some are 
due by custom, some by tenure, and by 
reservation on deeds executed within time 
of memory ; those due by custom are the 
most frequent. 
For an heriot service, or for an heriot 
reserved by way of tenure, the lord may 
either seize or distrain. 
HERISSON, in fortification, a beam 
armed with a great number of iron spikes, 
with their points outwards, and supported 
by a pivot, on which it turns. 
HERIT1ERA, in botany, so named in 
honour of Charles Louis L’Heritier, a genus 
of the Monoecia Monadelphia class and or- 
der. Essential character : calyx five- toothed; 
corolla none ; male anthers ten, without 
filaments ; female germs five ; drupes with 
one subglobular seed. There is but one 
species, viz. H. littoralis, looking-glass 
plant, a native of the East Indies. 
HERMANN IA, in botany. This name 
was given in honour of the celebrated Paul 
Hermann, a genus of the Monadelphia Pen- 
her 
tandria class and order. Natural order of 
Columniferas. Tiliace®, Jussieu, Essen- 
tial character: styles five; capsule five- 
celled ; petals semitubular at the base, ob- 
lique. There are twenty-one species. The 
hermannias are shrubs from two to seven 
feet in height. Natives of the Cape of 
Good Hope. 
HERMAPHRODITE, a term formerly 
applied exclusively to signify a human crea- 
ture possessed of both sexes. The term is 
now applied to other animals, and to plants. 
It is now well known there is no such thing 
as an hermaphrodite in the human species. 
In most species of animals, the production 
of hermaphrodites appears to be the effect 
of chance, but in the black cattle it seems 
to be an established principle of their pro- 
pagation. It is a well known fact, and, as 
far as has yet been discovered, appears to 
be universal, that when a cow brings forth 
two calves, -one of them a bull, and the other 
a cow to appearance, the cow is unfit for 
propagation, but the bull-calf becomes a 
very proper bull. They are known not to 
breed ; they do not shew the least inclina- 
tion for the bull, nor does the bull ever take 
the least notice of them. Among the coun- 
try people in England, this kind of calf is 
called a free-martin ; and this singularity is 
just as well known among the farmers as 
either cow or bull. When they are pre- 
served, it is for the purposes of an ox or 
spayed heifer ; viz. to yoke with the oxen, 
or fatten for the table. They are much 
larger than either the bull or the cow, and 
the horns grow longer and bigger, being 
very similar to those of an ox. The bellow 
of a free-martin is also similar to that of an 
ox, and the meat is similar to that of the 
ox or spayed heifer, viz. much finer in the 
fibre than either the, bull or cow, and they 
are more susceptible of growing fat with 
good food. 
Among the reptile tribe, indeed, such as 
worms, snails, leeches, &c. hermaphrodites 
are very frequent. In the memoirs of the 
French Academy, we have an account of 
this very extraordinary kind of hermaphro- 
dites, which not only have both sexes, but 
do the office of both at the same time. Such 
are earth-worms, round-tailed worms found 
in the intestines of men and horses, land- 
snails, and those of fresh waters, and all 
the sorts of leeches. And as all these are 
reptiles, and without bones, it is inferred 
that all other insects which have these two 
characters are also hermaphrodites. The 
method of coupling practised in this class 
