m h i p 
But the hippopotamus is not merely harmless. He af¬ 
fords many articles of conliderable utility to human life. 
His flefh is a wholefome and not unpleafant food. The 
Hottentots, the Caffrarians, and even the European colo- 
nifts at the Cape, eat it with great eagernefs. In Egypt 
likewile this, animal has been fought for its flefh. Dr. 
Pocock faw it fold in the market. The negroes of An¬ 
gola, Congo, and of the whole weft coaft of Africa in-ge¬ 
neral, though they venerate this mighty inhabitant of the 
rivers as a deity, yet fcruple not to eat him. The flefh 
is faid to be tender: the fat is not fo rancid and greafy 
as that of moll: other animals : the gelatinous part of the 
feet, when well drefi'ed, is a great delicacy : the dried 
tongue of an hippopotamus is confidered, even at the Cape 
of Good Hope, as a rare, and favoury difh. Dr. Sparr- 
man, on his return to Europe, furnilhed the king of Swe¬ 
den’s table with one of thefe tongue^, two feet eight inches 
in length. The teeth of the hippopotamus are of a harder 
and whiter fubftance than thofe of the elephant. Dentifts 
prefer them on account of thefe qualities, even to ivory, for 
the purpofe of replacing loft teeth in the human jaw. The 
hide is rather thicker than that of the rhinoceros. It 
is a fufficient load for a camel. The inhabitants at the 
Cape make excellent whips of it, which, after being ufed 
for 1'ome time, become more pliable than thofe made of 
the hide of the rhinoceros. The blood of this animal is 
laid to be ufed by the Indian painters as one of their co¬ 
lours. Some relate, that the hippopotamus is conftantly 
at war with the crocodile, and more than a match for 
him. Were it not for the hippopotamus, Haflelquift tells 
us, the crocodiles would loon become fo numerous in the 
Nile, as utterly to depopulate Egypt. But others pretend 
that thefe two animals are i'een fwimming peaceably toge¬ 
ther, without the leaft appearance of any hoftile difpofl- 
tion towards one another. Belon fpeaks of a tame hip¬ 
popotamus as an animal of a very mild and gentle charac¬ 
ter : and Sparrman is of opinion, that a calf of this fpe- 
cies might be brought up tame, without much difficulty ; 
and that thus the curiofity of Europeans might once more 
be gratified with a fight of living fpecimens, as were the 
Tomans at the games of Scaurus. A Dutch colonift found 
the os petrolirm of the hippopotamus, reduced to powder, 
and taken in fmall quantites, an excellent remedy in cafes 
of convulfion, particularly in children. 
HIPPOSELPNUM, f. in botany. See Smyrnium. 
HIPPOTH'OON. in mythology, a fon of Neptune and 
Alope, daughter of Cercyon, expofed in the woods by his 
mother, that her amours with the god might be concealed 
from her father. Her flume was dil'covered, and her fa¬ 
ther ordered her to be put to death. Neptune changed 
her into a fountain, and the child was preferved by mares, 
whence his name. Paufanias. 
HIPPOTHOON'TIS, one of the twelve Athenian tribes, 
which received its name from Hippothoon. 
HIPPU'RIS, in ancient geography, one of the Cyclades. 
Mela. 
HIPPU'RIS, [ [from wrcoe, Gr. a horfe, and ovea,, a 
tail.] Mare’s Tail ; in botany, a genus of the clafs mo- 
r.andria, order monogynia, natural order of inundate, 
(naiades, JuJf.') The generic characters are—Calyx: a 
two-iobed rim, crowning the germ. Corolla: none. Sta¬ 
mina : filament one, upright, placed within the anterior 
lobe of the calyx; antlierae roundifli, comprefled. Piftil- 
lum: germ oblong inferior ; ftyle one, awl-ftiaped, up¬ 
right, from the. hinder lobe of the calyx, longer than the 
ftamen; ftigma (harp. Pericarpium none. Seed: on-e, 
roundifli, naked.— Ejje.ntial Charadcr. Calyx ; a two-lobed 
rim to the germ ; corolla none ; ftigma Ample ; feed one. ( 
Species, i. Hippuris vulgaris, or common mare’s tail: 
leaves eight at a joint, awl-fhapcd. Root perennial, creep¬ 
ing, white, jointed ; the joints furnilhed with numerous 
capillary fibres. Stems numerous, a foot and a half or 
more in height, upright, quite Ample, fmooth, ftriated, 
round, jointed, fpongy ; the pith like a thread in the cen¬ 
tre, compaCl, and in the roots tough. Leaves in whorls 
H I R 
at each joint, from eight to twelve or thirteen in number, 
linear, feffile, perfectly finooth and entire, acuminate, 
without veins, appearing hollow-dotted when magnified ; 
thofe under water reflex. Flowers axillary, feflile, one to 
each leaf, in the whorls that are above water. Linnteus- 
remarks, that the flower of this plant is as Ample as can 
be conceived, having neither calyx nor corolia, only a 
Angle Itamen and piitil, and one feed. The Situation alfo 
of the leaves, in whorls, is not ufual in European plants, 
except in the natural order of Stellate. The flowers ii* 
the beginning of fummer are moftly hermaphrodite, but at 
the dole of it many of them are female. Native of many 
parts of Europe, in ponds, ditches, marfhes, and rivers, 
especially where there is a depth of mild, and the froft 
cannot reach the roots. In quiet waters it grows upright, 
in large lakes to the height of feveral feet; in running 
waters it bends with the ftream. In fome countries it is 
a troublefome weed in rivers, and choaks up the ditches; 
but by ablorbing a great quantity of inflammable air it is 
reputed to aflift in purifying the putrid air of marfhes. 
Gmelin fays, that the wild-ducks in the north feed upon 
it; goats alfo are laid to eat it. We do not know that it 
is of any other ufe. In England it is not very common ; 
it is found however in feveral places in Cambridgefhire, 
Oxfordfhire, Weftmorland, Stafford (hire, Leicefterfhire, 
See. Near London it is more rare; Blackftone found it 
in Harefield river and Uxbridge moor, Hudfon in the New 
River near Hornfey, and Dr. Milne near Stoke Newington 
and Highgate. It flowers from May to Auguft. Others 
give April to June for the time of flowering. Gerarde 
calls this plant female horfe-ta.il, and Pankinfon marjh bar¬ 
ren korfe-tail ; Mr. Hudfon firft named it mare's tail. In 
French it is pef d'eau, which is a tranflation of one of its 
old names limno.beuce, lake or water pine; in German it is 
fchafthalm, tannenwedcl ; in Dutch, kattefaart, paardtfaart ; 
in D.anifh, heferumpe, vand-Jludehnaa ; in Swedifh, hajlvans- r 
in Italian; hippuride. 
2. Hippuris tetraphylla, or four-leaved mare’s tail: 
leaves four at a joint, oblong, blunt. This is always very 
diftinct from the preceding by its only having four leaves 
to a whorl, and their being fpatulate-ovate and blunt. 
According to Retzius they are lanceolate, and the upper 
leaves are in fives. 'It has the appearance of Elatine al- 
finaltrum, and is clearly a gynandrous plant. It is a na¬ 
tive of Sweden, and was firlt dilcovered by Schulfen near 
A boa in Finland. 
3. Hippuris Indica, or Indian mare’s tail : fcape naked, 
root tuberous. This isaftemlefs plant, with a fibrous creep¬ 
ing root, having many roundifli fcattered fmall bjack hairy 
tubers, which are eatable. Scape four feet high, very 
ftraight and Ample, round, ftriated; within tubular di¬ 
vided by many tranfverfe membranes. Native of marfhes 
in Cochin-china. See Chara and Equisetum. 
HIP’PUS, in ancient geography, a river falling into the 
Phafis. 
HIPPUS, f. [from Gr. a horfe.] The medical 
term for an affeCtion of the eyes, in which they are con¬ 
tinually twinkling and trembling, often occafioned by 
riding on horleback ; whence the term. 
IIIPSYPH ILE, a woman’s name ; a queen of Lemnos. 
HIP'TAGE, f. in bo-iany. See Gzertnera. 
IilR, a town of Perfia, in the province of Kirman: fix 
leagues fouth of Sirgian. 
HI'RA, in ancient geography, a maritime town of Pe- 
loponnefus. Homer. 
HIRriE'A, f [fo named by Jacquin from Nicolas de la 
Hire, whole phyfico-botanical works are in tfr£ Memoirs 
of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and four volumes 
of hi$ drawings in the Imperial Library at Vienna.] In 
botany, a genus of the clafs deeandria, order trigynia, na¬ 
tural order of trihilate, (malpighise, Juf[.) The generic 
characters are—Calyx: perianthium nve-ieaved ; leaflets 
ovate, upright, very fmall, permanent. Corolla; petals 
five, roundifh, concave, with long claws. Stamina:, fila¬ 
ments ten, capillary, the outer ones fhorter; antherae 
roundifli. 
