Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/703

 I HERMIT HERNIA and interesting as showing the extent to which the combination of Platonic, Christian, orien- tal, and Jewish notions was carried. It was published in Greek and Latin by Bargicus (Paris, 1554), and by Rosselt (Cologne, 1630). See Baumgarten-Crusius, De Librorum Her- meticorum Origine atque Indole (Jena, 1827). HERMIT. See ANCHORET. HERMITAGE WINE. See FBANCE, WINES OF. HERMON, a mountain, or rather a range of ghts, on the northern border of Palestine, often spoken of in the Bible, forming the S. W. part of the Anti-Libanus. (See ANTI-LIBANUS.) The Psalms speak of the u dew of Hermon;" and travellers tell us that this is so abundant that their tents are wet with it, as if by a steady rain. Moses applies to this range the names both of Hermon and Sion, mentioning also its Emoritic name Senir, and the Sidonian Sirion. HERMOPOLIS MAGNA, a city of ancient Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile, lat. 27 45' N. It was the capital under the Greek rulers of a nome on the borders of Middle and Upper Egypt, and is sometimes classed in one and sometimes in the other division. It was a place of great opulence, ranking second to Thebes alone, and was famous for the worship of Typhon and of Thoth. Its name was de- rived from the latter divinity, who was sup- posed to correspond to the Greek Hermes. A little S. of it was the castle of Hermopolis, where vessels from the upper country paid toll. At the base of the Libyan hills, W. of the city, was the necropolis, where numerous mummies have been found. The Ptolemies erected many magnificent structures in Her- mopolis, but there are now few remains. A part of the portico of the temple of Thoth was standing during the present century, but being of calcareous stone it was burned by the Turks for lime. The village of Ashmoonein or Eshmoon now occupies the southern extremity of the mounds on the site of Hermopolis. The principal occupation of the inhabitants, who number about 4,000, is excavating the mounds for nitre. HERMOSILLO, an inland town of Mexico, in the state of Sonora, lat. 29 20' N., and Ion. 110 40' W., 40 m. S. W. of Ures; pop. about 14,000, about 3,000 of whom are Yaqui In- dians. It is situated in a sandy valley near the base of an isolated mountain, not far from the confluence of the Sonora and Horcasitas rivers. The streets are regular, and the houses built mostly of adobe, though a great many are of stone. The only public buildings are two churches and the mint, to which latter is at- tached an assay office. The climate is exceed- ingly hot, but the people are generally healthy. Mining was once extensively carried on, but the chief industry is now agriculture, wheat being the great staple production. Numerous jlour mills in the town and vicinity form a stri- king feature of the place. The vine thrives well, and large quantities of brandy are manu- factured. Hermosillo was formerly the seat 685 of the presidio of Pitic, and up to 1800 a mili- tary station. After the discovery of gold mines in Sonora the population grew rapidly, and Hermosillo is still the most important com- mercial entrepot of this part of the republic. Its port is Guaymas, about 100 m. S., on the gulf of California. HERNANDO, a W. county of Florida, bor- dering on the gulf of Mexico, and bounded N. and E. by the Withlacoochee river ; area, 1,980 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2,938, of whom 854 were colored. The surface is low and level, and mostly occupied by pine forests and swamps ; the soil is sandy. The chief pro- ductions in 1870 were 41,354 bushels of Indian corn, 16,680 of sweet potatoes, 182 bales of cotton, 23 hogsheads of sugar, 6,356 gallons of molasses, and 34,682 Ibs. of rice. There were 427 horses, 2,894 milch cows, 10,993 other cat- tle, and 5,711 swine. Capital, Brooksville HERNDON, William Lewis, an American naval officer, born in Fredericksburg, Ya., Oct 25 1813, lost at sea, Sept. 12, 1857. He entered the navy at the age of 15, served in the Mex- ican war, and was engaged for three years in the national observatory at Washington. In 1851-'2 he explored the Amazon river under the direction of the United States government. The route selected by him was from Lima across the Cordillera eastward as far as Tarma, and thence N. to Tingo Maria on the Huallaga, whence by canoe he reached the great stream. During a portion of the journey he was accom- panied by Lieut. Lardner Gibbon. A narrative of the expedition is contained in " Exploration of the Valley of the River Amazon," with maps and plates (2 vols., Washington, 1853-'4), the first part of which is by Herndon, and the sec- ond by Gibbon. In 1857 he was commander of the steamer Central America, which left Havana for New York on Sept. 8, having on board 474 passengers and a crew of 105, and about $2,000,000 of gold. During a violent gale from the northeast and a heavy sea, on Sept. 11, she sprung a leak, and sank on the evening of Sept. 12, near the outer edge of the Gulf stream, in lat. 31 44' N. All the women and children on board were put in the boats and saved, with a few men. Herndon and 426 others sank with the vessel. HERNIA, .or Rupture, the protrusion of any organ outside of its natural enclosing cavity, but, in common language, limited to the escape of the abdominal viscera. Until about the 18th century this disease was neglected by the profession, and its treatment was principally in the hands of itineramt quacks ; but since then it has received the attention of the most emi- nent surgeons of all countries. According to the seat of the protrusion, the principal kinds of hernia are : the inguinal, which comes out at the abdominal rings, following the course of the spermatic cord in the male and of the round ligament in the female respectively into the scrotum and the greater labia ; the femoral or crural, passing beneath Poupart's ligament, and