Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/670

636 white, and of a horny texture within. Cut transversely it presents internally a circle of 8 to 12 cuneiform ligneous bandies, surrounded by a thick bark. It emits a faint odour when cut or broken, and has a bitter and slightly acrid taste. The drug is sometimes adulterated with the rhizome of baneberry, Actcea spicata, L., which, however, may be recognized by the distinctly cruciate appearance of the meditullium of the attached roots when cut across, and by its decoction giving the chemical reactions for tannin. The rhizome is darker in colour in proportion to its degree of dryness, age, and richness in oil. A specimen dried by Schroff lost in eleven days 65 per cent, of water.

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 HELLENISTS ( EAA^vio-ra-:) was the name usually applied by those who called themselves Greeks (Hellenes) to all Grsecizing and more especially to all Greek-speaking foreigners, a class which, after the conquests of Alexander the Great, formed a large and important element in almost every community throughout the civilized world. More particularly the word is applied in the New Testament (Acts vi. 1 ; ix. 29 ; and, according to the textus receptus, also xi. 20, where, however, the best MSS. and critical editions read &quot;EAA-^vas) to Greek-speaking or &quot; Grecian&quot; Jews, who, besides being very numerous in the various countries of the dispersion, had also many synagogues in Jerusalem, and were remarkable there for their zeal. Indeed their presence in the capital of Judaism at all may safely be taken to have implied on their part a more than ordinary interest in the affairs of the ideal theocratic kingdom ; their attitude therefore to Christianity, when that new system first came to be promulgated, could not fail to be very pro nounced on the one side or on the other. The early records show that the apostles made many converts among the Hellenists of the city ; and it is interesting to note that, if the names can be taken as a safe indication, all the seven deacons mentioned in Acts vi. 5 belonged to the &quot; Hellen istic &quot; and not to the &quot; Hebrew &quot; party within the primi tive church. Saul of Tarsus also was a Hellenist ; but whether he belonged to the synagogue of the &quot; Libertines &quot; or to that of &quot; those of Cilicia &quot; is a question which our data do not enable us to decide. In the Vulgate, which translates EXXyvio-rai by the word &quot; Grseci,&quot; the distinction so consistently preserved in our authorized version between &quot; Grecians &quot; and &quot; Greeks &quot; is made to disappear.

 HELLESPONT, the modern, is variously named in classical literature EXXrjaTTOVTOS, Hellespontus, 6 &quot;BAA??? TTOVTOS, Pontus Helles, Hellespontum Pelagus, and Fretum Hellesponticum. It received its name from Helle, in Greek mythology, daughter of Athamas, king of Orchomenus in Bceotia, and of the goddess Nephele, whom lie had married at the command of Hera (Juno). Athamas, however, secretly loved the mortal Ino, and on his marrying her also the dissensions between his wives became so great that he went to con sult the Delphic oracle. The priestess there, bribed by Ino, assured him that the sacrifice of Phrixus, the brother of Helle, was necessary to domestic harmony ; but Neplielo, in order to save her children, despatched them to Colchis in Asia, on the back of the ram with the golden fleece. Helle, however, had the misfortune, when crossing this strait, to 