H E L 
way to new difcoveries. In medicine he contributed 
powerfully to overthrow the Galenical dodtrine of hu¬ 
mours and qualities, which lie attacked by many ftrong 
and fenfible arguments. He may be regarded as one of 
the fir ft who attended to the living principle in bodies, 
which he defignated by the name of arcArtitp, as an ens 
diftindt from the body and foul, and the intelligent ru¬ 
ler of the animal frame. To its various aft'edtions he 
attributed morbid motions in general, fup’poling its fer¬ 
vour to be excited in order to expel noxious matter. 
Much of his dodtrine on this fubjedt has been foftened 
down in the fchools to the vis medicatrix. The works of 
Van Helmont were firft publilhed coliedtively by his 
fon, in 1648, 4to. Elzev. and many fubfequent editions 
have been made in various places. 
HELMS'DALE, a river of Scotland, in the county 
of Sutherland, which runs into the German Ocean two 
leagues fouth-weft from the Ord of Caithnefs. 
HELMS'LEY, or Helmsley-Black-a-Moor, a 
final 1 town of the North Riding of Yorklhire, feated in 
Ry-da.1, or the Vale near the river Rye, and has a riviriet 
running through' it called Borrow-bec. The houfes are built 
with done, and covered with tile. It had formerly a 
caftle, which was fuppofed to be one of the ftrongeft 
inland caftles in England ; it was built by fir Robert de 
Rofs, (hence called Rofs-caftle,) from whom itdefeend- 
ed to a branch of the family of Manners, and now belongs 
to the duke of Rutland. It was well fortified, and the 
inoats were ftipplied with water by means of leaden 
pipes from Borrow-bec. It was befieged by general 
Fairfax for Cromwell; he endeavoured to batter it down, 
but, through the ftrength of the building, his efforts 
proved abortive. Search was then made to find by what 
means the moats were fupplied with water, which, being 
difeovered, the moats were let.dry; and the-enemy now 
being enabled to undermine the building, blew it up. 
Its ruins remain. This town is fituated thirty miles weft 
of Scarborough, fourteen eaft of Thirlk, fixteen north- 
weft of Malton, twenty-three north of York, and 222 
north-weft of London. It carries on a confiderable trade 
in the manufadture of cottons and linen cloths; and has 
a market on Saturdays ; fairs, May 19, July 16, Octo¬ 
ber 2, and November 6. 
HELMSMAN, f. The man who ftands at the helm, 
and diredts the courfe of the fhip. 
HELM'STADT, a town of Germany, on the Rhine : 
fourteen miles fouth-eaft of Heidelberg, and fourteen 
north-weft ofHeilbronn. 
HELO'DES,/ [from Gr. moift.] A fever at¬ 
tended with colliquative fweats. Scott. 
HELOI'SE, the name of a woman. 
HELOI'SE, the ardent lover, admired wife, and af¬ 
fectionate widow, of Abelard. She is fuppofed to have 
been born about the year 1102, and to have been a 
prieft’s natural daughter. She was brought up by her 
maternal uncle, Fulbert, a canon of Paris, who gave 
her an education fuitable to the uncommon tdlents for 
learning which Ihe very early difplayed. When the 
misfortunes had occurred, which are related in the bio¬ 
graphical lketch of Abei.arp, it was determined that 
the Ihould take the veil, and quit for ever the gay and 
pleafurable feenes of a Parifian life. She made her pro- 
feftion at Argenteuil, before Ihe had attained her twen¬ 
tieth year; and devoted herfelf to the Severities of a 
cloifter with fo much aftiduity, that Ihe at length be¬ 
came priorefs, or fecond in office. She had lived feven 
years in this retreat* when, by the diffblution of the 
convent of Argenteuil, its help’lefs inmates were turned 
adrift upon the world. Abelard, at that time abbot of 
St. Gildas in Britany, gave Heloife an invitation to take 
polfeliion, with her companions, of a convent which he 
had eredted, named the Paraclete. She gratefully ac¬ 
cepted the offer, and repaired thither with eight of the 
fifterhood, by whom Hie was unanimoully chofen abbels 
pf the new foundation. Her high reputation* and the 
H E L 36s 
devotion of the times, foon enlarged its pofleffions; and 
Heloife and her community acquired general refpedt and 
regard. She infpired her mmsJwith fueh a paftion for 
learning, that, according to a contemporary writer, with¬ 
out being Syrians, Greeks, or Romans, they fpoke the 
different languages of thole countries as well as their 
native tongue ; and on certain days of the year fang the 
offices of the catholic church in Hebrew, in Greek, and 
in Latin. Her fenfibility met with a fevere trial at the 
death of Abelard, in 1142, whofe remains at his requeft 
were conveyed for interment to the Paraclete, the refi- 
dence of his beloved wife; and the heavenly confola- 
tions of religion enabled her to pafs through tfje Ccene 
with due compofure. She furvived him twenty years 3 
and conducted herfelf with that zealous aufteriry natu¬ 
ral to one who had relinquiffied the world and all its 
attachments; hence the conftitutions which Ihe drew up 
for the rule of her convent are in the extreme!! of rigour; 
The tale of her declining life is thus told by the abbot 
of Cliini: “ Her tears had long fince deftroyed her beau¬ 
ty : a lad palenefs took place of her native vermilion j. 
her eyes loft all their fire, and her whole frame was 
broken down by grief. She looked upon herfelf as the 
difconfolate widow mentioned by St. Paul, whofe only 
occupation is to weep and to lament. After the death 
of Abelard Ihe hardly ever went into the monaftery 
but to attend the offices of the church; and, except at 
the times of her attendance in Jhe choir, when Ihe had 
always a veil over- her face, Ihe remained fnut up in 
her cell at prayers, or was upon her knees before the 
tomb of Abelard.” She died in May, 1163; and by 
her diredtion was laid in the tomb by the fide of her 
revered Abelard. In teftimony of her extraordinary, 
learning it is affirmed, that for many years after her 
death, the nuns of the Paraclete, at the feaft of Whit- 
funtide, performed the fervice of the day, in Greek, to 
which language Heloife had been particularly attached; 
HE'LON, [Hebrew.] A man’s name. 
HELO'NIAS, f. in botany, a genus of the clafs 
hexandria, order triandria, natural order of coronaria r 
(junci, JuJf.) The generic characters are—Calyx: none. 
Corolla: petals fix, oblong, equal, deciduous. Stamina: 
filaments fix, fubulate, a little longer than the corolla ; 
anthene incumbent. Piftillum : germ roundifii, ‘ three- 
cornered ; ftyles three, ffiort, reflex; ftigmas blunt. 
Pericarpium : capfule roundilh, three-celled. Seeds j 
roundilh .—EJfential Charalder. Calyx none 3 corolla fix- 
petalled ; capfule three-celled. 
Species, j. Helonias bullata, or fpear.leaved helonias 
leaves lanceolate, nerved. Root perennial, compofed- 
of many thick flelhy fibres; leaves fpreading near the: 
ground, and fitting clofe to the root at their bale, of a 
light-green colour, having fix longitudinal nerves, which 
appear ftrongeft on the under fide; they are four or five 
inches long, two or three broad.in the middle, narrow¬ 
ing gradually to both ends, and continuing green all the 
year. In the centre of thefe fprings up a. Angle-eredt 
ftalk, a foot in height, having a few vefliges of fmall 
leaves, ending in ffiarp points. Handing alternately clofe 
to the ftaik : this is terminated by a clofe 'o-b title fpike 
of dark-red flowers, with petals fpreading o-pen flat; the 
filaments are twice the length of thefe; and the anthers, 
are four-cornered, of a blue purple colour. Some of the 
flowers have no Itigma, and are barren; they appear the 
latter end of April and May; and in warm fe a ferns the 
feeds will ripen here. Native of Pennfylvania, about 
Philadelphia, growing plentifully in ffiady moift places,. 
It is called jlar-grafs by the natives; and is of an acrid 
aromatic flavour. 
2. Helonias afphodeloides, or grafs-leaved helonias : 
ftem-leaves fetaceoys. Stem extremely fimple, two feet 
high; leaves alternate or fcattered, .Upright, even, but 
rugged at the edge; flowers white, in a fimple termi¬ 
nating raceme, on peduncles longer than the flowers. 
It relembles an afphodel very much* but has three re. 
