645 
HYP 
one another. Thofe who applied to the oracle of the ca> 
vern, were led by thefe dark paflages to tiie place of con- 
fultation. Within the precinfts were to be found all the 
requifites for an oracle; dark groves, foul ftreaihs, and 
fetid exhalations; and above all a vaft and dreary cave. 
It was properly a temple, and formed by the Cimmerians 
and Hercuieans, who fettled in thefe parts. Places of 
this nature were generally iituated near the lea, that 
they might more ealily be "confulted by mariners, whom 
chance brought upon the coafc. 
One tribe of the Hyperboreans is taken notice of by 
Pliny under the name of Arimpheans. They feem to have 
been reclufes, who retired to woods and wilds, that they 
might more ftrictly devote themfelves to religion. They 
wore their hair very fhort, both men and women; and are 
reprefented as very harmlefs; fo that they lived unmoleft- 
ed in the midlt of many barbarou! nations. They -were 
addicted to great abftinence, feeding upon the fruits of 
the foreft. In many of thefe circumstances they refem- 
bled the people from whence they came. The lame mo¬ 
nadic life prevailed-in India among the Sarmar.es and Al- 
lobii. 
Thofe who fettled in Sicily feem to have been a veij 
powerful and knowing people; but thofe of Hetruria 
were Itiil far fuperior. At the time when they flourilhed, 
Europe was in great meal'ure barbarous; and their go¬ 
vernment was in a Itate of ruin, before learning had dawn¬ 
ed in Greece ; and long before the Romans had divefted 
themfelves of their natural ferocity. Hence we can ne¬ 
ver have a hiftory-of this people, which will be found 
adequate to their merits. The two molt diftant colonies 
of this family weftward, were upon the Atlantic ocean : 
the one in Europe to the north; the other oppofite at the 
extreme part of Africa. The country of the latter was 
Mauritania; whofe inhabitants were the Atlantic Ethio¬ 
pians. They looked upon themfelves as of the fame fa¬ 
mily as the gods; and they were certainly defcended from 
fome of the firft deified mortals. Thofe who occupied the 
provinces of Iberia and Bcetica, on the other fide, went 
under the fame titles, and preferved the fame liiftories. 
They were of Erythraean and Ethiopic race. 
I-IYPERCATALEC'TIC, adj. In the Greek and Latin 
poetry, is applied to a verfe that has one or two fyllables 
too much or beyond the regular and juft meafure ; as, Mufa 
forores flint Minerva : alfo, Mufa forores Paltadis tugent. 
HYPERCATH AR'SIS, f. [from tursg, Gr. excefs, and 
uctOagtrif, purgation.] Excefiive purging from medicine ; 
a variety of the diarrhoea mucofa of Cullen. 
HY'PERCRITIC,yi [hypercritique, Fr. from v'&eg, Gr. 
and x£itikoc.] A critic exaft or captious beyond ule or 
reafon.—Thofe hypercritics in Englilh poetry differ from 
the opinion of the Greek and Latin judges, from the Ita¬ 
lians and French, and from the general tafte of all ages. 
Dry den. 
HYPERCRITICAL, adj. Critical beyond neceftity or 
ufe.—Such 'hypercritical readers will confider my bufmefs 
■was to make a body of refined layings, only takin'g care 
to produce them in the molt natural manner. Swift. 
HYPERCRIT'ICISM, /. A criticifm fevere beyond 
neceftity or reafon. 
HYPERDUTIA,^ [Greek; compofed of verip, above, 
and toia, worfhip, fervice.] In the Romifh theology, 
the worfhip rendered to the holy virgin. The worfhip of-, 
fered to faints is called dulia ; and that to the mother of 
God, hyperdulia, as being fuperior to the former. 
HYPE'RIA, in ancient geography, the feat of the' 
Phreacians near the Cyclops. Some commentators take it 
to be Camarina in Sicily ; but, according to others, it is 
fuppofed to be an adjoining ifland, which they take to be 
Melita, lying in light of Sicily. And this leans to be 
confirmed by Apollonius Rhodius. Whence the Phaeacians 
afterwards removed to Corcyra, called Scheria, Phacacia, 
and Macris ; having been expelled by the Phoenicians, 
%vho fettled in Melita for commerce, and for commodious 
harbours, before the war of Troy. 
Von. X. No. 693. 
H Y P 
HYPERTCOI'DES. See Ascyrum and Hypericum. 
HYPERPCUMj J. [from virsp, above, and twuv, an 
image or likenefs, Linn, becaufe lbme fpecies have pellu¬ 
cid dots in the leaves, which dots aft as lenfes, through 
which the icones, or images, of objefts, maybe diftinguilh- 
ed.] St. John’s Wort; in botany, a genus of the clafs 
polyadelphia, order polyandria, natural order of rotacese, 
(hyperica ,-JuJf.) The generic characters are—Calyx : pe- 
rianthium five-parted ; fegments fubovate, concave, per¬ 
manent. Corolla -. petals five, oblong-ovate, obtufe, 
fpreajding, wheel-ihaped, according to the fun’s apparent 
motion. Stamina : filaments numerous, capillary, united 
at the bafe in live dr three bodies ; a nth eras fmall. Piftil- 
lum : germ roundilli; ftyles three, fometimes one, two, or 
five, fimple, diftant, the length of the ftamens ; liigmas 
fimple. Pericarpiurn : capfule roundilli, with-the lame 
number of cells as there are ftyles. Seeds : very many, 
oblong .—EJJcntial Charadler. Calyx five-parted ; petals five3 
filaments many, connefted at the bafe in five bundles. 
General Remarks. If the following remarks be at¬ 
tended to, in conjunction with thole to be made in the 
following defcriptions, the inveftigaticn of the numerous 
fpecies of this genus will be greatly facilitated. 
1. All the fpecies are perennial except the 31ft. 
2. The following are herbaceous : 6, 8, 12, 31, 36, 39, 
42, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52. Moll of the reft are Ihrubby, or 
at leaft fuffruticofe, or woody at the bafe. 
3. The Item is cylindrical in 8, 9, 10, 27, 28, 31, 32, 
33 > 37 ) 4 °) 4 -H 4 2 ) 43 ) 4 - 5 ) 4 6 > 48, 49 > 5 °) 5 2 ) 53 - Anci- 
pitai or two-edged in 13, 24, 23, 29, 39, 47. Quadrangu¬ 
lar in 1 to 6, 12, 14, 17, 18, 21, 36, 38, 44, 51, 55, 56. 
4. The leaves are alternate only in the 7th'and 8th fpe- 
cies: in the reft they are oppofite. 
5. The flowers are in racemes or panicles in 3, 4, 6, 8, 
10, 17, 24, 29, 31, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 42, 4s, 46, 48, 51. 
In cymes in 13 and 47. Umbels in 9. Corymbs in 21, 
27, 33. Solitary in 1, 2, 5, 7, 11, 18, 19, 36, 56. 
6. Some of the fpecies have bractes, or floral leaves, as 
5> 7) 2 S, 36,42,45,48, 51, 53, and probably feveral others: 
many however have none. 
7. Some fpecies have five or three neftareous glands al¬ 
ternate with the ftamens, as 3, 4, 9, 10, 20, 25, 32. Pro¬ 
bably future obfervation will inform us that others alfo 
have thefe glands. 
S. The fruit in moil fpecies is a capfule ; in 3, 4, 10, 
13, however, it is a berry, or rather a berried capfule, 
being a berry rather in appearance tlian ftrufhlre. 
9. Natives of Europe are, 1, 13, 24, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 
4 H 4 2 > 43 ) 45 > 47 ) 4 &) 49 ) 5 °) 53 - Of thefe, 13, 36, 37, 38, 
39, 42, 45, 48, 49, are natives of Britain. The reft are 
found in the Eaft Indies, America, Japan, &c. 
Species. I. With five ftyles. 1. Hypericum baieari- 
cum, or waited St. John’s wort: Item Ihrubby, leaves and 
branches warted. Waited St. John’s wort rifes with a 
llender fhrubby llalk in this country, about two feet high, 
but in its native foil it acquires the height of feven or 
eight feet, fending out feveral weak branches of a re.ddifh 
colour, and marked with fears where the leaves have 
fallen off - . Leaves fmall, oval, waved on their edges, and 
having feveral fmall protuberances on. their under fide ; 
they fit clofe to the branches, half embracing them at the 
bafe. Flowers terminating, large, bright yellow. Sta¬ 
mens a little fliort'er than the petals. Capfules pyramidal, 
having a Itrong fmell of turpentine, and filled with fmall 
brown feeds. Linnaeus obferves that the ftems are qua¬ 
drangular, with glandular dots in racemes fcattered over 
them; the leaves fiexuofe with warted glands at the edge; 
the flowers folitary. Mr. Curtis however remarks, that 
the flowers are not always folitary, but frequently form a 
fort of corymbus. This plant * 4 as difeovered in Majorca 
by Dr. Thomas Penny, a phyfician of London, who fent 
it to Lobel and Cluiius, in the year 1580, under the name 
Myrto-ciftus, from the rel’emblance of the leaves to myr¬ 
tle, and the gummy fubftance exuding from the plant 
as in ciftus. From that time the plant feejns to have 
► 8 B been 
