H E L 
HELISPHER'ICAL, adj. Ihelix and /pherc.} The keli- 
fpkerical line is the rhomb-line in navigation, and is fo 
called becaufe on the globe it winds round tire pole fpi- 
rally, and (till comes nearer and nearer to it, but cannot 
terminate in it. Harris. 
HELIS'SON, in ancient geography, a town and river 
of Arcadia. Paufanias. 
HE'LIUM, a name anciently given to the mouth of 
the Maefe in Germany. 
HE'LIUS, the name of the Sun among the Greeks; 
but in fegypt it denoted the divinity Orus, or Ofiris. 
When the Egyptians, fays Porphyry, would defcribc 
Helius, they reprefent a man in a float, or fhip, which 
is fupported by a crocodile. Orus is often defcribed as 
(landing upon a crocodile, and at the fame time fur- 
rounded with other fymbolical reprefentations. For, as 
the Egyptians in their rites referred to a perfon preferved 
in the midft of waters; they accordingly, to defcribe 
that hiftory, made ufe of types which had fome ana¬ 
logy and refemblance to fuch prefervation. Some of 
thefe could fcarcely be called fymbolical, the purport 
was fo manifeft. We are told by Jamblichus, that the 
figure of a man upon the lotus in the midft of mud, was 
an emblem of Helius. This philofopher, as well as Plu¬ 
tarch, and Porphyry, falfely imagined, fays Mr. Bryant, 
that thefe hiftories related to the real Helius, the Sun : 
and that thefymbols of Selene had the like reference to 
the Moon. But Helius and Selene were names given to 
objects which were immediately connected with water; 
even with the ocean itfelf. They had been expofed to 
water, and preferved in it: and to this their real hiftory 
related. The lotus was made an emblem of their pre¬ 
fervation; becaufe in the inundation of the Nile its 
broad leaf riles with the flood, and is never overwhelmed. 
Hence it was, that the Egyptians placed Helius upon the 
lotus : and he was faid to have arifen from the waters 
upon this plant in the form of a new-born child. This 
could have no relation to the Sun; but was a proper 
picture of Ofiris, who had been looked upon as loft, but 
returned to life in the character of the boy Orus. By 
Helius, the Egyptians meant a perfon fo denominated : 
and the Moon, to which they alluded, was 
•rev K oaptv, the reputed mother of the world, as Plutarch 
confefles; which character cannot be made in any degree 
to correfpond with the planet. Selene was the fame as 
Ifis, two? Seay: the fame alfo as Rhea, Vefta, Cybele, 
and Da-Mater. 
HE'LIX, f. [ helice , Fr. sAtf, Gr.] Part of a fpiral 
line; a circumvolution.—Find the true inclination of 
the fcrew, together with the quantity of water which 
every helix does contain. Wilkins. —In architecture, fome 
make a difference between the helix and the fpiral. A 
ftair-cafe, according to Daviler, is in a helix, or is heli¬ 
cal, when the ftairs or fteps wind round a cylindrical 
newel; whereas the fpiral winds round a cone, and is 
continually approaching nearer and nearer its axis. He¬ 
lix is alfo applied, in architecture, to the caulicules or 
little volutes under the flowers of the Corinthian capi¬ 
tal ; called alfo urilla. —In anatomy, it denotes the whole 
circuit or extent of the auricle or border of the ear out¬ 
wards. In oppofition to winch, the inner protuberance 
furrounded thereby, and anfwering thereto, is called 
anthelix. See Anatomy, vol.i. p.6oi. 
HE'LIX, f. [Gr. from uXw, to turn about.] In hel- 
mintology, a genus belonging to the .order of teftacea; 
the characters of which are :—Shell univalve, fpiral, 
fubdiaphanons, brittle; aperture contracted, femilunar, 
or roundifh. The included animal is the Snail, which 
is a real Umax or dug; only that this genus has its tef- 
taceous covering, whilft the other is wholly naked, with 
no other defence than a flelhy kind of fliield. See the 
article Limax. 
Though the fnail is one of the mod humble of the 
teftaceous tribes, yet its family is very abundant; and 
the fhells of fome individuals are extremely curious and 
H E L 327 
beautiful, and are prized by conchologifts. See the 
article Conchology, vol. v. p. 26, where feveral of 
them are correCtly figured. The fnail appears to inha¬ 
bit every part of the world, both on land and in the 
water. Some frequent gardens and woods, rocks and 
mountains, and beds of fand ; whilft others prefer the 
depths of the ocean, frefli-water rivers, lakes, and'ponds. 
Their fizes are no lefs various than the countries and 
places in which they are found. They fill up all the in¬ 
termediate fizes, from that of an apple or an egg, to the 
minutenefs of a grain of wheat; and in that diverlity of 
fize, exhibit all the colours of the rainbow, with the 
olilh of ivory or marble. There are no lefs than two 
undred and fixty-feven fpecies now afeertained, which 
are clafted in five divifions; the mod rare and curious 
individuals in each of which are as follow; viz. 
1. Whorls with a carinate acute margin. 1. Helix 
fcarabaeus : fliell ovate, both edges carinate ; aperture 
toothed. Shell one inch and a half long, variegated 
white and brown; whorls contiguous, the firft convex ; 
aperture narrow, comprefled, a little flexuous; lip three¬ 
toothed each fide, the outer lip acute and unequal. In¬ 
habits mountains of Afia and the Friendly Iflands, and 
was formerly fuppofed to have fallen in fliowers from 
the clouds. 
2. Helix lapicida: fliell umbilicate, convex each fide; 
aperture tranfverfe, margined, ovate. Shell reddifh-horn 
colour with ferruginous marks, or brown varied with 
white, rarely hyaline; whorls five; navel pervious. 
Inhabits Europe, among rocks, in woods and hedges, 
and about the bodies of old trees : half an inch in dia¬ 
meter. 
3. Helix oculus capri: fhell fubcarinate, umbilicate, 
convex ; aperture margined. Shell whitilh with a brown 
centre, glabrous; whorls a little deprefled, yellowifti- 
brown; aperture white, beneath yellow ; navel pervious. 
Inhabits trees in Afia. 
4. Helix ftriatula: (hell fubcarinate, umbilicate, con¬ 
vex, ftriate, beneath more gibbous; aperture roundifti, 
lunate. Shell grey or clear white, very finely ftriate 
tranfverfely ; whorls four or five. Inhabits the water¬ 
falls of Lombardy: minute. 
5. Helix ringens : (hell fubcarinate, imperforate, con¬ 
vex, with an inverted ringent aperture; lip four-plaited- 
behind. Shell yellowi(h-brown or cinereous with ferru¬ 
ginous fpots, or white with brown fpots; aperture ob. 
long-oval, with four, five, fix, or eight, plaits or teeth ^ 
whorls fix. Inhabits India: one inch and a.half wide. 
6 . Helix finuata : (hell imperforate, fubcarinate, red- 
di(h-brown with a white ridge; aperture tranfverfe, 
toothed, and three-plaited behind. Shell roughi(h, flat- 
tilh each fide, with five roundifti whorls;, lip reflected. 
Inhabits America : about nine lines in diameter. 
7. Helix carocolla : (hell imperforate, a little convex 
on each fide, with a tranfverfe lip. The (hell is fome- 
timeschefnut with dark rays, fometimes beneath white, 
or yellow and red, or blackilh with a red or deep chef- 
nut throat and lip ; whorls five or fix,fubconvex ; aper¬ 
ture fomething triangular. It inhabits India; and is a 
land fpecies, very large. See the upper and under Tides 
of this curious (hell correftly delineated in the Concho¬ 
logy Plate X. fig. 10, 11, vol. v. p. 29. 
8. Helix cornu militare : lhell fubcarinate, imperfo¬ 
rate, convex ; aperture with a wide margin. Shell gla-- 
brous, white covered with a brown (kin; aperture ful¬ 
vous with a brown border; whorls obtufe. Inhabits 
India ; a land fpecies, and very large. 
The remaining fpecies in this division, 9-51, are named 
as follows : H. naarginata, cicatricofa, tegophthalmos, 
albella, maculata, albina, algira, leucas, itevipes, exi. 
lis, vermiculata, Candida,.fpadicea, incarnata, fericea, 
crenulata, planorbis, complanata, lucerna, lampas,.lych- 
nuchus, cepa, pellis ferpentis, vortex, fcabra, gothica,. 
gualteriana, tricarinata, ifognomoftomos, oculus com¬ 
munis, affinis, marginella, fmuofa, maculofa, pundtata,, 
vitrea. 
