Chapter 22

Fragments in T. Kock,Comicorum Atticorum fragmenta, i. (1880), and A. Meineke,Poëtarum Graecorum comicorum fragmenta(1855).

HERMIT,a solitary, one who withdraws from all intercourse with other human beings in order to live a life of religious contemplation, and so marked off from a “coenobite” (Gr.κοινός, common, andβίος, life), one who shares this life of withdrawal with others in a community (seeAsceticismandMonasticism). The word “hermit” is an adaptation through the O. Fr.ermiteorhermite, from the Lat. form,eremite, of the Gr.ἐρεμίτης, a solitary, fromἐρημία, a desert. The English form “eremite,” which was used, according to theNew English Dictionary, quite indiscriminately with “hermit” till the middle of the 17th century, is now chiefly used in poetry or rhetorically, except with reference to the early hermits of the Libyan desert, or sometimes to such particular orders as the eremites of St Augustine (seeAugustinian Hermits). Another synonym is “anchoret” or “anchorite.” This comes through the French and Latin forms from the Gr.ἀναχωρητής, fromἀναχωρεῖν, to withdraw. A form nearer to the Greek original, “anachoret,” is sometimes used of the early Christian recluses in the East.

HERMOGENES,of Tarsus, Greek rhetorician, surnamedΞυστήρ(the polisher), flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (A.D.161-180). His precocious ability secured him a public appointment as teacher of his art while as yet he was only a boy; but at the age of twenty-five his faculties gave way, and he spent the remainder of his long life in a state of intellectual impotence. During his early years, however, he had composed a series of rhetorical treatises, which became popular text-books, and the subject of subsequent commentaries. Of hisΤέχνη ῥητορικήwe still possess the sectionsΠερὶ τῶν στάσεων(on legal issues),Περὶ εὑρέσεως(on the invention of arguments),Περὶ ἰδεῶν(on the various kinds of style),Περὶ μεθόδου δεινότητος(on the method of speaking effectively), andΠρογυμνάσματα(rhetorical exercises).

Editions by C. Walz (1832), and by L. Spengel (1854), in theirRhetores Graeci; bibliographical note on the commentaries in W. Christ,Geschichte der griechischen Literatur(1898).

HERMON,the highest mountain in Syria (estimated at 9050 to 9200 ft.), an outlier of the Anti-Lebanon. As the Hebrew name (חרמון, “belonging to a sanctuary,” “separate”) shows, it was always a sacred mountain. The Sidonians called itSirion, and theAmoritesShenir(Deut. iii. 9). According to one theory it is the “high mountain” near Caesarea Philippi, which was the scene of the Transfiguration (Mark ix. 2). A curious reference in Enoch vi. 6, says that in the days of Jared the wicked angels descended on the summit of the mountain and named it Hermon. The modern name isJebel es-Sheikh, or “mountain of the chief or elder.” It is also calledJebel eth-Thelj, “snowy mountain.” The ridge of Hermon, rising into a dome-shaped summit, is 20 m. long, extending north-east and south-west. The formation of the lower part is Nubian sandstone, that of the upper part is a hard dark-grey crystalline limestone belonging to the Neocomian period, and full of fossils. The spurs consist in some cases of white chalk covering the limestone, and on the south there are several basaltic outbreaks. The view from Hermon is very extensive, embracing all Lebanon and the plains east of Damascus, with Palestine as far as Carmel and Tabor. On a clear day Jaffa also may be seen. The mountain in spring is covered with snow, but in autumn there is occasionally none left, even in the ravines. To the height of 500 ft. it is clothed with oaks, poplars and brush, while luxuriant vineyards abound. Foxes, wolves and Syrian bears are not infrequently met with, and there is a heavy dew or night mist. Above the snow-limit the mountain is bare and covered with fine limestone shingle. The summit is a plateau from which three rocky knolls rise up, that on the west being the lowest, that on the south-east the highest. On the south slope of the latter are remains of a small temple orsacellumdescribed by St Jerome. A semicircular dwarf wall of good masonry runs round this peak, and a trench excavated in the rock may perhaps indicate the site of an altar. On the plateau is a cave about 25 ft. sq. with the entrance on the east. A rock column supports the roof, and a building (possibly a Mithraeum) once stood above. Other small temples are found on the sides of Hermon, of which twelve in all have been explored. They face the east and are dated by architects aboutA.D.200. The most remarkable are those of Deir el ‘Ashaiyir, Hibbariyeh, Hosn Niha and Tell Thatha. At the ruined town called Rukleh on the northern slopes are remains of a temple, the stones of which have been built into a church. A large medallion, 5 ft. in diameter, with a head supposed to represent the sun-god, is built into the wall. Several Greek inscriptions occur among these ruins. In the 12th century Psalm lxxxix. 12 was supposed to indicate the proximity of Hermon to Tabor. The conical hill immediately south of Tabor was thus named Little Hermon, and is still so called by some of the inhabitants of the district.

HERMSDORF,a village of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia. Pop. (1900) 10,975. There are coal and iron mines and lime quarries in the vicinity, and in the town there are large iron-works. Hermsdorf is known as Niederhermsdorf to distinguish it from other places of the same name. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is a village in Silesia at the foot of the Riesengebirge, chiefly famous for the ruins of the castle of Kynast. This castle, formerly the seat of the Schaffgotsch family, was destroyed by lightning in 1675. A third Hermsdorf is a village in Saxe-Altenburg, where porcelain is made.

HERNE, JAMES A.[originallyAherne] (1840-1901), American actor and playwright, was born in Troy, New York, and after theatrical experiences in various companies produced his own first play,Hearts of Oak, in 1878, and his great successShore Acresin 1882. It was in rural drama that his humour and pathos found their proper setting, andShore Acreswas seen throughout the United States almost continuously for six seasons, being followed by the less successfulSag Harbor, 1900.

HERNE,a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, 15 m. by rail N.W. of Dortmund. Pop. (1905) 33,258. It has coal mines, boiler-works, gunpowder mills, &c. Herne was made a town in 1897.

HERNE BAY,a seaside resort in the St Augustine’s parliamentary division of Kent, England, 8 m. N. by E. of Canterbury, on the South Eastern and Chatham railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6726. It has grown up since 1830, above a sandy and pebbly shore, and has a pier ¾ m. long. The church of St Martin in the village of Herne, 1½ m. inland, is Early English and later; the living was held by Nicholas Ridley (1538), afterwards Bishop of London. At Reculver, 3 m. E. of Herne Bay on the coast, is the site of the Roman station ofRegulbium. The fortress occupied about 8 acres, but only traces of the south and east walls remain. In Saxon times it was converted into a palace by King Ethelbert, and in 669 a monastery was founded here by Egbert. The Early English church was taken down early in the 19th century owing to the encroachment of the sea, and parts of its fabric were preserved in the modern church of St Mary. But its twin towers, known as the Sisters from the tradition that they were built by a Benedictine abbess of Faversham in memory of her sister, were preserved by Trinity House as a conspicuous landmark.

HERNE THE HUNTER,a legendary huntsman who was alleged to haunt Windsor Great Park at night, especially around an aged tree, long known as Herne’s oak, said to be nearly 700 years old. This was blown down in 1863, and a young oak was planted by Queen Victoria on the spot. Herne has his French counterpart in theGrand Veneurof Fontainebleau. Mention is made of Herne inThe Merry Wives of Windsorand in Harrison Ainsworth’sWindsor Castle. Nothing definite is known of the Herne legend. It is suggested that it originated in the life-story of some keeper of the forest; but more probably it is only a variant of the “Wild Huntsman” myth common to folk-lore, which (E. B. Tylor,Primitive Culture, 4th ed. pp. 361-362) is almost certainly the modern form of a prehistoric storm-myth.

HERNIA(Lat.hernia, perhaps from Gr.ἔρνος, a sprout), in surgery, the protrusion of a viscus, or part of a viscus, from its normal cavity; thus,hernia cerebriis a protrusion of brain-substance,hernia pulmonum, a protrusion of a portion of lung, andhernia iridis, a protrusion of some of the iris through an aperture in the cornea. But, used by itself, hernia implies a protrusion from the abdominal cavity, or, in common language, a “rupture.” A rupture may occur at any weak point in the abdominal wall. The common situations are the groin (inguinal hernia), the upper part of the thigh (femoral hernia), and the navel (umbilical hernia). The more movable the viscus the greater the liability to protrusion, and therefore one commonly finds some of the small intestine, or of the fatty apron (omentum), in the hernia. The tumour may contain intestine alone (enterocele), omentum alone (epiplocele), or both intestine and omentum (entero-epiplocele). The predisposing cause of rupture is abnormal length of the suspensory membrane of the bowel (the mesentery), or of the omentum, in conjunction with some weak spot in the abdominal wall, as in an inguinal hernia, which descends along the canal in which the spermatic cord lies in the male and the round ligament of the womb in the female. A femoral hernia comes through a weak spot in the abdomen to the inner side of the great femoral vessels; a ventral hernia takes place by the yielding of the scar tissue left after an operation for appendicitis or ovarian disease. The exciting cause of hernia is generally some over-exertion, as in lifting a heavy weight, jumping off a high wall, straining (as in difficult micturition), constipation or excessive coughing. The pressure of the diaphragm above and the abdominal wall in front acting on the abdominal viscera causes a protrusion at the weakest point.

Rupture is either congenital or acquired. A child may be born with a hernia in the inguinal or umbilical region, the result of an arrest of development in these parts; or the rupture may be acquired, first appearing, perhaps, in adult life as the result of a strain or hurt. Men suffer more frequently than women, because of their physical labours, because they are more liable to accidents, and because of the passage for the spermatic cord out of the abdomen being more spacious than that for the round ligament of the womb.

At first the rupture is small, and it gradually increases in bulk. It varies from the size of a marble to a child’s head. The swelling consists of three parts—the coverings, sac and contents. The “coverings” are the structures which form the abdominal wall at the part where the rupture occurs. In femoral hernia the coverings are the structures at the upper part of the thigh which are stretched, thinned and matted together as the result ofpressure; in other cases there is an increase in their thickness, the result of repeated attacks of inflammation. The “sac” is composed of the peritoneum or membrane lining the abdominal cavity; in some rare cases the sac is wanting. The neck of the sac is the narrowed portion where the peritoneum forming the sac becomes continuous with the general peritoneal cavity. The neck of the sac is often thickened, indurated and adherent to surrounding parts, the result of chronic inflammation. The “contents” are bowel, omental fat, or, in children, an ovary.

The hernia may be reducible, irreducible or strangulated. A “reducible” hernia is one in which the contents can be pushed back into the abdomen. In some cases this reduction is effected with ease, in others it is a matter of great difficulty. At any moment a reducible hernia may become “irreducible,” that is to say, it cannot be pushed back into the abdominal cavity, perhaps because of inflammatory adhesions in and around the fatty contents, or because of extra fullness of the bowel in the sac. A “strangulated” hernia is one in which the circulation of the blood through the hernial contents is interfered with, by the pinching at the narrowest part of the passage. The interference is at first slight, but it quickly becomes more pronounced; the pinched bowel in the hernial sac swells as a finger does when a string is tightly wound round its base. At first there is congestion, and this may go on to inflammation, to infection by micro-organisms and to mortification. The rapidity with which the change from simple congestion to mortification takes place depends on the tightness of the constriction, and on the virulence of the bacterial infection from the bowel. As a rule, the more rapidly a hernia forms the greater the rapidity of serious change in the conditions of the bowel or omentum, and the more urgent are the symptoms. The constricting band may be one of the structures which form the boundaries of the openings through which the hernia has travelled, or it may be the neck of the sac, which has become thickened in consequence of inflammation—especially is this the case in an inguinal hernia.

Reducible Hernia.—With a reducible hernia there is a soft compressible tumour (elastic when it contains intestine, doughy when it contains omentum), its size increasing in the erect, and diminishing in the horizontal posture. As a rule, it causes no trouble during the night. It gives an impulse on coughing, and when the intestinal contents are pushed back into the abdomen a gurgling sensation is perceptible by the fingers. Such a tumour may be met with in any part of the abdominal wall, but the chief situations are as follows. The inguinal region, in which the neck of the tumour lies immediately above Poupart’s ligament (a cord-like ligamentous structure which can be felt stretching from the front of the hip-bone to a ridge of bone immediately above the genital organs); the femoral region, in the upper part of the thigh, in which the neck of the sac lies immediately below the inner end of Poupart’s ligament; the umbilical region, in which the tumour appears at or near the navel. As the inguinal hernia increases in size it passes into the scrotum in the male, into the labium in the female; while the femoral hernia gradually pushes upwards to the abdomen.

The palliative treatment of a reducible hernia consists in pushing back the contents of the tumour into the abdomen and applying a truss or elastic bandage to prevent their again escaping. The younger the patient the more chance there is of the truss acting as a curative agent. The truss may generally be left off at night, but it should be put on in the morning before the patient leaves his bed. If, after the hernia has been once returned, it is not allowed again to come down, there is a probability of an actual cure taking place; but if it is allowed to come down occasionally, as it may do, even during the night, in consequence of a cough, or from the patient turning suddenly in bed, the weak spot is again opened out, and the improvement which might have been going on for weeks is undone. It is sometimes found impossible to keep up a hernia by means of a truss, and an operation becomes necessary. The operation is spoken of as “the radical treatment of hernia,” in contra-distinction to the so-called “palliative treatment” by means of a truss. It should not be spoken of as the radical cure, for skilfully as the operation may have been performed it is not always a cure. The principles involved in the operation are the emptying of the sac and its entire removal, and the closure of the opening into the abdomen by strong sutures; and, in this way, great advance has been made by modern surgery. Without tiresome delay, and the tedious and sometimes disappointing application of trusses, the weak spot in the abdominal wall is exposed, the sac of the hernia is tied and removed, and the canal by which the rupture descended is blockaded by buried sutures, and with no material risk to life. Thus the patient’s worries become a thing of the past, and he is rendered a fit and normal member of society. Experience has shown that very few ruptures are unsuited for successful treatment by operation. No boy should now be sent to school compelled to wear a truss, and so hindered in his games and rendered an object of remark.

Irreducible Hernia.—The main symptom is a tumour in one of the situations already referred to, of long standing and perhaps of large size, in which the contents of the tumour, in whole or in part, cannot be pushed back into the abdomen. The irreducibility is due either to its large size or to changes which have taken place by indurations or adhesions. Such a tumour is a constant source of danger: its contents are liable, from their exposed situation, to injury from external violence; it has a constant risk of increase; it may at any time become strangulated, or the contents may inflame, and strangulation may occur secondarily to the inflammation. It gives rise to dragging sensations (referred to the abdomen), colic, dyspepsia and constipation, which may lead to obstruction, that is to say, a stoppage may occur of the passage of the contents of that portion of the intestinal canal which lies in the hernia. When an irreducible hernia becomes painful and tender, a local peritonitis has occurred, which resembles in many of its symptoms a case of strangulation, and must be regarded with suspicion and anxiety. Indeed, the only safe treatment is by operation.

The treatment of irreducible hernia may be palliative; a “bag truss” may be worn in the hope of preventing the hernia getting larger; the bowels must be kept open, and all irregularities of diet avoided. A person with such a hernia is in constant danger, and if his general condition does not contra-indicate it he should be submitted to operative treatment. That is to say, the surgeon should cut down on the hernia, open the sac, divide any omental adhesions, tie and cut away indurated omentum, return the bowel, and complete the radical operation by closing the aperture by strong sutures.

InStrangulated Herniathe bowel or omentum is being nipped at the neck of the sac, and the flow of blood into and from the delicate tissues is stopped. The symptoms are—nausea, vomiting of bilious matter, and after a time of faecal-smelling matter; a twisting, burning pain generally referred to the region of the navel, intestinal obstruction; a quick, wiry pulse and pain on pressure over the tumour; the expression grows anxious, the abdomen becomes tense and drum-like, and there is no impulse in the tumour on coughing, because its contents are practically pinched off from the general abdominal cavity. Sometimes there is complete absence of pain and tenderness in the hernia itself, and in an aged person all the symptoms may be very slight. Sooner or later, from eight hours to eight days, if the strangulation is unrelieved, the tumour becomes livid, crackling with gas, mortification of the bowel at the neck of the sac takes place, followed by extravasation of the intestinal contents into the abdominal cavity; the patient has hiccough; he becomes collapsed; and dies comatose from blood-poisoning.

The treatment of a strangulated hernia admits of no delay; if the hernia does not “go back” on the surgeon trying to reduce it, it must be operated on at once, the constriction being relieved, the bowel returned and the opening closed. There should be no treatment by hot-bath or ice-bag: operation is urgently needed. An anaesthetic should be administered, and perhaps one gentle attempt to return the contents by pressure (termed “taxis”) may be made, but no prolonged attempts are justifiable, because the condition of the hernial contents may be such that they cannot bear the pressure of the fingers. “Thinkwell of the hernia,” says the aphorism, “which has been little handled.”

The taxis to be successful should be made in a direction opposite to the one in which the hernia has come down. The inguinal hernia should be pressed upwards, outwards and backwards, the femoral hernia downwards, backwards and upwards. The larger the hernia the greater is the chance of success by taxis, and the smaller the hernia the greater the risk of its being injured by manipulation and delay. In every case the handling must be absolutely gentle. If taxis does not succeed the surgeon must at once cut down on the tumour, carefully dividing the different coverings until he reaches the sac. The sac is then opened, the constriction divided, care being taken not to injure the bowel. The bowel must be examined before it is returned into the abdomen, and if its lustreless appearance, its dusky colour, or its smell, suggests that it is mortified, or is on the point of mortifying, it must not be put back or perforation would give rise to septic peritonitis which would probably have a fatal ending. In such a case the damaged piece of bowel must be resected and the healthy ends of the bowel joined together by fine suturing. Matted or diseased omentum must be tied off and removed. Should peritonitis supervene after the operation on account of bacillary infection, the bowels should be quickly made to act by repeated doses of Epsom salts in hot water.

A person who is the subject of a reducible hernia should take great care to obtain an accurately fitting truss, and should remember that whenever symptoms resembling in any degree those of strangulation occur, delay in treatment may prove fatal. A surgeon should at once be communicated with, and he should come prepared to operate.

(E. O.*)

HERNICI,an ancient people of Italy, whose territory was in Latium between the Fucine Lake and the Trerus, bounded by the Volscian on the S., and by the Aequian and the Marsian on the N. They long maintained their independence, and in 486B.C.were still strong enough to conclude an equal treaty with the Latins (Dion. Hal. viii. 64 and 68). They broke away from Rome in 362 (Livy vii. 6 ff.) and in 306 (Livy ix. 42), when their chief town Anagnia (q.v.) was taken and reduced to a praefecture, but Ferentinum, Aletrium and Verulae were rewarded for their fidelity by being allowed to remain freemunicipia, a position which at that date they preferred to thecivitas. The name of the Hernici, like that of the Volsci, is missing from the list of Italian peoples whom Polybius (ii. 24) describes as able to furnish troops in 225B.C.; by that date, therefore, their territory cannot have been distinguished from Latium generally, and it seems probable (Beloch,Ital. Bund, p. 123) that they had then received the full Roman citizenship. The oldest Latin inscriptions of the district (from Ferentinum,C.I.L.x. 5837-5840) are earlier than the Social War, and present no local characteristic.

For further details of their history seeC.I.L.x. 572.

There is no evidence to show that the Hernici ever spoke a really different dialect from the Latins; but one or two glosses indicate that they had certain peculiarities of vocabulary, such as might be expected among folk who clung to their local customs. Their name, however, with itsCo-termination, classes them along with theCo-tribes, like the Volsci, who would seem to have been earlier inhabitants of the west coast of Italy, rather than with the tribes whose names were formed with theNo-suffix. On this question seeVolsciandSabini.

See Conway’sItalic Dialects(Camb. Univ. Press, 1897), p. 306 ff., where the glosses and the local and personal names of the district will be found.

(R. S. C.)

HERNÖSAND,a seaport of Sweden, chief town of the district (län) of Vesternorrland on the Gulf of Bothnia. Pop. (1900) 7890. It stands on the island of Hernö (which is connected with the mainland by bridges) near the mouth of the Ångerman river, 423 m. N. of Stockholm by rail. It is the seat of a bishop and possesses a fine cathedral. There are engine-works, timber-yards and saw-mills. The harbour is good, but generally ice-bound from December to May. Timber, iron and wood-pulp are exported. There are a school of navigation and an institute for pisciculture. Hernösand was founded in 1584, and received its first town-privileges from John III. in 1587. It was the first town in Europe to be lighted by electricity (1885). The poet Franzen (q.v.), Bishop of Hernösand, is buried here.

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