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LEFT HUYGENS 92 HYAENA HUYGENS, CHRISTIAN (hoi'gens), an eminent Dutch mathematician and astronomer; born in The Hague, April 14, 1629. He settled in Paris in 1663, at the invitation of Colbert, who bestowed on him a handsome pension, but returned to the Netherlands in 1681. In pure ge- ometry, Huygens gave the reasons for the quadrature of the hyperbola, the el- lipsis, and the circle; in mechanics, he laid down the theory of the pendulum, and its application to the clock; he dis- cerned the synchronism of the cycloid, invented the theory of involutes and eyo- lutes of curves, and explored the doctrine of centers of oscillation; most important of all, he announced the law of the mo- tion of bodies revolving in circles,^ there- by "grazing" the law of gravitation. In astronomy, we owe him an improve- ment of the telescope and the memorable discovery of Saturn's ring. In optics he laid the foundation of the theory of un- dulations. He died in The Hague, June 8, 1695. HUYSMANS, JORRIS KARL (iies- mon^'), a French novelist; born in Paris, France, Feb. 5, 1848. He studied law and entered the French civil service, but abandoned it for literature. At first a pronounced realist, he turned to idealism and even mysticism. He first attracted notice by the story "Pack on Back" ; then followed "Martha," "The Vatard Sis- ters," "The Menage," and others. The latest expression of his theories was in "Down There" (La-Bas)^ and "On the Way" (1895). He died rti 1907. HVEN, or HWEN, a small island of Sweden, on the S. W. coast in the Sound, 15 miles N. E. of Copenhagen. It was the residence of Tycho Brahe, and the place where he built an observatory, which has since fallen into decay. HYACINTH, in classical mythology, a Laconian youth, beloved by Apollo, who killed him undesignedly by a throw of a discus or quoit. The god trans- formed him into a flower (hyacinthus), on which, in memorial of his grief, he inscribed the Greek letters "alpha" and "iota." Scientifically viewed, the proc- ess should be reversed. The discovery of some plant with marks faintly resem- bling the Greek letters "alpha" and "iota" generated the myth of the youth Hyacinthus. In botany, a genus of Liliacex, tribe Scillese, once so extensive as to include the common wild hyacinth (hyacinth of the woods) or blue-bell, then called Hya- cinthus nonscriptus, next transferred to the genus Agra^fthis of Link, and called Agraphia nutans, and now figuring as Scilla nutans. In mineralogy, a precious stone, de- scribed by Pliny as of the color of a hyacinth, and also like an amethyst, but not so blue. Some consider it a kind of amethyst. HYACINTHS, PERE (ya-sanf), a French clergyman, the former monastic name of Charles Loyson; born in Or- leans, March 10, 1827. He studied at St. Sulpice, and in 1851 becoming priest,' taught philosophy and theology at Avi- gnon and Nantes. Subsequently entering the order of the Carmelites, he became known as a powerful preacher, and gath- ered crowded and enthusiastic audiences of all ranks of society to the Madeleine and Notre Dame in Paris. Almost as remarkable as his eloquence was the boldness with which he denounced ex- isting abuses in the Church; and Arch- bishop Darboy defended him against the accusations of the Jesuits till in ] 869 the general of his order imposed silence on him. Hyacinthe replied by a letter in which he called for a thorough reform of the Church, and was excommunicated Relieved from monastic vows by the Pope, he became a secular priest under the name of the Abbe Loyson. He pro- tested vigorously against the infallibil- ity dogma. In 1872 he married an American lady. In 1873 he was chosen cure of a congregation of Liberal Catho- lics at Geneva. He published sermons and lectures, and in 1879 established a "Galilean" congregation in Paris, which in 1884 attached itself to the Old Catho- lic Church in Holland. In 1900 he ministered to Old Catholics in Switzerland. His publications in- clude: "Catholic Reform" (1892); "My Testament" (1893); "Christianity and Islamism" (1895). He died in 1912. HYAENA, or HYENA, a genus of digitigrade carnivorous quadrupeds, in- cluded in the genus Canis by Linnaeus, but now referred to the j^luroid divi- sion of the Carnivora, of which, however, it is a somewhat aberrant member, form- ing with Proteles a sub-family, HysS' nina. Hyenas have six incisors and two canine teeth in each jaw, five molai's on each side in the upper jaw, and four in the under. The body is covered with rather long coarse hair, forming a mane along the neck and back. The feet have each four toes. Beneath the anus is a deep glandular pouch, contributing much to the offensive odor by which hyenas are characterized. Hyenas eat carrion as well as newly killed prey, and are of much use as scavengers. They some- times attack cattle, especially if they