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Rh

The basis. in England, of rating lands and hereditaments to the poor-rate, and to other rates and taxes that are expressed to be leviable or assessable in like manner as the poor-rate.

HYRNES. In old English law. A parish.

HYSTERIA. A paroxysmal disease or disorder of the nervous system. more common in females than mules, not originating in any anatomical lesion, due to psychic rather than physical causes, and attended. in the acute or convulsive form, by extraordinary manifestations of secondary effects of extreme nervous- ness.

Hysteria is a state in which ideas control the body and produce morbid changes in its functions. Mœbius. A special psychic state. char- acterized by symptoms which can also be pro- duced or reproduced by suggestion, and which can be treated by psychotherapy or persuasion, bysteric and hypnotic states being prnctically equivalent to each otber. Babinski. A purely psychic or mental disorder due to hereditary predisposition. Charcot. A state resulting from a psychic lesion or nervous shock, leading to repression or aberration of the sexual instinct. Freud. Hysteria is much more com- mon in women than in men. nnd was formerly thought to be due to some disorder of the uterus or sexual system: but it is now known that it may occur in men, in children, and in very aged persons of either sex.

In the convulsive form of hysteria. common- ly called "hysterics" or "a fit of hysterics," there ls nervestorm characterized by loss or abandonment of self-control in the expression of the emotions, particularly grief, by par- oxysms of tears or laughter or both together, sensations of constriction as of a ball rising in the throat (globus hystericus), convulsive movements in the chest, pelvis, and abdomen, sometimes leading to a fall with apparent ucnonsciousness, followed by a relapse into semi- unconsciousness or catalepsy. In the non-con- vulsive forms, all kinds of organic paralysis may be simulated, as well as muscular contractions and spasms. tremor, loss of sensation (an- æsthesia) or exaggerated sensation (hypercræsthe- gia), disturbances of respiration, disordered appetite, accelerated pulse, hemorrhages in the skin (stigmata), pain, swelling, or even dislocation of the joints, and great amenability to suggestion. -Hystero-epilepsy. See Epilepsy.

HYSTEROPOTMOI. Those who, having been thought dead, had, after a long ab- sence in foreign countries. returned safely home; or those who, having been thought dead in battle, had afterwards unexpectedly escaped from their enemies and returned home. These, among the Romans, were not permitted to enter their own houses at the door, but were received at a passage opened in the roof. Enc. Lond.

HYSTEROTOMY. The Caesnrean operation. See C ÆSAREAN S ECTION.

HYTHE. In English law. A port, wharf. or small haven to embark or land merchandise at. Cowell; Blount.