174 HUGONOTS....HUMANE SOCIETIES.

HUGONOTS, a name given, in ridicule and contempt, to the protestants of France. In the year 1758, Henry IV. of France, assembled the heads of the Hugonots, or protestant party, at Nantes; and passed there the famous edict, which not only secured to them the free exercise of their religion, but a share in the administration of justice, and the privileges of being admitted to all employments of trust, profit and honor. These privileges and immunities they enjoyed till the year 1686, when Lewis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantes, and instituted against them a most bloody persecution. A twentieth part of the whole numerous body of protestants were put to death in a short time; and a price was set on the heads of the rest, who were hunted like wild beasts. By these horrible severities, in spite of the guards which were placed on the frontiers, and every other tyrannical restraint, France was deprived of nearly six hundred thousand of her most valuable inhabitants; who carried their wealth, their industry, and their skill in ingenious manufactures, into England, Holland, and Germany. Some of them fled to the American colonies, particularly, the ancestors of Bowdoin, Jay, Laurens, and Boudinot; names distinguished in the annals of the American revolution.

HUMANE SOCIETIES, benevolent associations for the purpose of ascertaining the means of restoring the suspended actions of life, and particularly for the recovery of drowned persons. These societies, which began to be instituted soon after the middle of the 18th century, have been the means of saving a great number of lives, and have multiplied to such extent, that they are to be found in most of the great sea port towns.The Humane Society of the city of New-York has published the following directions for the recovery of persons apparently dead from drowning. Ist. Avoid any violent agitation of the body, such as rolling it on a cask or hanging it up by the heels, but carefully convey it with the head a little raised, to the nearest house. 2d. Strip and dry the body, and lay it in a warm blanket, which must be renewed every few minutes. If a child, place it between two persons in a warm bed. 3d. Immediately apply warm spirits or brandy to the temples,

HUMMING BIRD....HUNS.

175

breast, belly, feet and hands; at the same time, the whole body should be diligently rubbed with warm woollen cloths. 4th. Introduce the pipe of a pair of bellows into one nostril, keep the other nostril and mouth closed, inflate the lungs till the breast be a little raised, the mouth and nostrils must then be let free, and the chest gently pressed in imitation of natural breathing, the bellows should then be applied as before, and the whole process repeated and continued at least fifteen or twenty minutes. 5th. Inject into the bowels by means of a syringe a pint of warm spirits and water, composed of equal parts of each: this injection the Society prefer to tobacco smoke, usually recommended in cases of this sort. 6th. When the physician who has the care of the apparatus, arrives with the same, he will, with the machine for this purpose, inject into the stomach some warm spirits and water, with a small quantity of spirits of hartshorn, open a vein, or cause such other remedies to be applied as are indicated. 7th. Renew the external application of hot spirits to the surface of the body, and diligently continue the friction with woollen cloths, at least two hours or until signs of returning life are apparent. 8th. Do not despair. By perseverance in warm friction alone many lives have been restored, and in some instances where the bodies have remained in the water for the space of half an hour.

HUMMING BIRD, the least of all the feathered tribes; its body being not bigger than the end of one's finger, and its eggs no larger than small peas: it is a native of America. On this little bird nature has profusely lavished her most splendid colours; the most perfect azure, the most beautiful gold colour, the most dazzling red, are for ever in contrast, and help to embellish the plumes of its majestic head. Like the bee, it finds its food in flowers and blossoms; when it feeds, it appears as if immovable, though continually on the wing. Myriads of those little birds are seen, feeding on the flowers and blossoms, in the southern parts of the United States, and in the Floridas....St. John.

HUNS, a fierce and savage race of Scythians, or Tartars, who originally were from a country near the

Exuine, or Black Sea, on the confines of Europe and Asia. They were unknown to other nations, till the year 376; when they begun to make dreadful ravages in Europe, along the Danube. In 441, the Huns extended their ravages, under Attila their king, whose vast conquests and horrible cruelties gave him the name of the Scourge of God. Cotemporary historians seem to labor for adequate epithets and expressions, in describing the immense devastations and shocking butcheries of this monster. Attila made himself master of all the northern countries from the confines of Persia to the banks of the Rhine, and even broke into Gaul, which is now called France; burning the cities and villages, and massacreing the inhabitants without regard to age or sex. This people gave name to Hungary, where they made a permanent settlement in the ninth century.

HURRICANE, a furious and tremendous kind of storm concerning the nature and cause of which, the following thoughts are from a very ingenious author. 1st. The storm in the Atlantic Ocean, called Hurricane, is local, irregular in its periods, and peculiar to the West-India islands, and the sea that surrounds them. 2d. It usually happens in August and September, when those islands are most heated, and their soil is opened by frequent showers, and when the exhalations rise in the greatest abundance. 3d. The hurricane storm is preceeded by an extraordinary effervescence, or bubbling up of the sea, which then rises on the shore, and calms prevail, huge dark clouds are formed, and the atmosphere is obscured by thick vapors sensibly mephitic. 4th. Towards the Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane commonly begins in the western quarter; but in the windward islands, at north-east, or north north-east. It rages for some hours with incredible violence; and near the centre of its operation is accompanied with a deluge of rain, and sometimes with glimmerings of lightning; a short calm ensues; when the wind changes to the opposite points, and blows for a less time, but with like violence: it then gradually abates, and at length terminates, varying all round the horizon. It is conjectured, from these circumstances, that the sea, where the hurricanes prevail, covers the crater of a

HYENA....IBIS....ICE.

177

prodigious volcano long since extinct; or perhaps, is rather the abyss into which a large tract of land, undermined by subterraneous fires is sunk.... Ellis.

HYENA, an animal of the dog kind, and nearly the size of a wolf. Its hair is of a dirty greyish colour, marked with black, disposed in waves down its body. It holds its head like a dog pursuing its scent; its back appearing elevated like that of a hog. More savage and untameable than any other quadruped, it seems to be for ever in a state of rage or rapacity, for ever growling, except when receiving its food. Its eyes then glisten, the bristles of its back all stand upright, its head hangs low, and yet its teeth appear; all which give it a most frightful aspect, which a dreadful howl tends to heighten. It seems the most untractable, and, for its size, the most terrible of all quadrupeds; it defends itself against the lion, and is a match for the panther. When destitute of other provision, it scrapes open the graves, and devours the dead bodies, how putrid soever.... Goldsmith.

IBIS, a bird that was adored by the ancient Egyptians,

on account of its usefulness in devouring serpents and other noxious animals; it is thought to have been either of the vulture or the stork kind. It has been usually supposed that the ancient ibis was the same with that which goes at present by the same name: but however useful the modern ibis may be, in ridding Egypt, where it resides, of vermin, and venomous animals that infest it; yet it is much doubted whether this be the same ibis to which the ancients paid their adoration. The modern ibis is not peculiar to Egypt, as it is to be seen but at certain seasons of the year; whereas we are informed by Pliny, that this bird was seen no where else....Goldsmith.

ICE, a solid, transparent, and brittle body, formed of

fluid matter by the power of the cold. As by a famous experiment of Mr. Boyle, it appears, that ice evaporates very fast even in severe frosty weather, when the wind blows upon it; and as ice, in a thawing state, is known to contain six times more cold than water at the same degree of sensible coldness; so it is easy to understand, that winds blowing over islands and continents of ice, and coming thence into our latitudes, must bring great degrees of cold along with them. Hence it is no wonder that the north, north-west, and north-east winds, should be extremely cold in some parts of the United States of America, during winter; since they pass over vast regions of ice and frost quite from Greenland and the Frozen Ocean. It has been said, that ice will produce fire if fair water be made to boil for half an hour to make the air pass out of it. Two inches of this water must afterwards be exposed to a very cold air; and, when it is frozen, the extremities of the ice are to be melted before a fire, till the ice acquires a convex, spherical figure, on both sides. Then, with a glove, presenting this kind of burning mirror to the sun, and assembling the rays by refraction in a common focus, fire may be set therein to fine gun-powder.

ICE ISLANDS, vast bodies of ice near the north and south poles, which never thaw, except those of them that happen to be driven into warmer latitudes. There are many reasons to believe, from the accounts of travellers and navigators, that the islands of ice in the higher northern latitudes, continue perpetually to increase in bulk. The great islands of ice in the northern seas, near Hudson's Bay, have been observed to have been immersed above one hundred fathoms beneath the surface of the sea, and to have risen a fifth or sixth part above the surface, and to have measured between three and four miles in circumference. Some of these ice islands have been known to have been wafted, both from the northern and southern polar regions, into the tropical climates: on one of them, brought from the southern pole, the British ship Guardian struck, near the Cape of Good Hope, December 22, 1789. These islands when wafted into the tropical seas, are involved in mist, occasioned by the vast evaporation from the in