Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/739

 HIEROGLYPHICS American or Toltecan system were few and very exact in their application, not admitting of that variation which would naturally result from the caprice or varying individual concep- tions and tastes of those working under the system of Mexico. We discover in it no prop- er representations of things, except as pictures illustrative of what may be called the text of the manuscripts in which they are used, or in miniature in the text when employed as signs or characters, having a fixed and constant val- ue, or modified only by the addition of arbitra- ry signs, like the points in oriental writings. It is undoubted that such manuscripts as that of Dresden were in common use in all parts of Central America occupied by the Tzendal or Toltecan stock at the time of the discovery, and that the existing aboriginal population of that country is chiefly made up of the descendants of the authors of the system then in use, who were equally the builders of the monuments to which uncritical investigators would assign a foreign origin and high antiquity. The Mexi- can system seems to have been intermediate between the rude picture records and mnemon- ic symbolism of the North American Indians, and the hieroglyphical and probably purely phonetic system of Central America, but at the same time of higher development and capacity than that of New Granada and Peru. It was evidently in an infant but progressive state at the time of the conquest. Charles B. Brown has given in the " Journal of the Anthropolo- gical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland " (London, 1873) an account of hieroglyphical inscriptions occurring in British Guiana. On the river Essequibo they are found at the Wa- raputa cataract, at Cumutie rock, at the On- ropocari cataract, at the Takarimi rock, and at the Bubumana cataract. They are also met with on the banks of the Quitaro, Cotinga, Ireng, Corentyn, and Berbice rivers. The In- dians now living in Guiana know nothing of picture writing, and ascribe the hieroglyphical inscriptions to the handiwork of Makunaima, Inscription on the Bubumana Eock. their great spirit. See Tylor, "Mexico and the Mexicans" (London, 1861) and "Research- es into the Early History of Mankind " (1870) ; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Monuments anciens HIGGINSON 721 duMexique, &c. (Paris, 1864-'6) ; and the vari- ous archaeological and ethnological periodicals HIERONYMtS. See JEROME. IIIEROPUAM (Gr. hpo^vrr,^ from Iep6f, sa- cred, and faiveiv, to make known), the presi- ding priest in the Eleusinian mysteries, who conducted the ceremonies of initiation. He could be chosen only from the family of the Eumolpidas, whose ancestor Eumolpus was regarded as the founder of the mysteries. His body must be without defect, his voice sweet and sonorous, and his life without reproach. If he married, he thereby renounced the sa- cred office. A diadem adorned his brow, his hair hung down over his shoulders, and in the mysteries he represented the creator of the world with mystical symbols. He preserved and transmitted the secret and unwritten knowledge which was the object of the institution. In the last ages of paganism the hierophants seem to have become thaumaturgi and magicians. HIGGINSON. I. Franeis, an English clergy- man, born in 1587, died in Salem, Mass., Aug. 6, 1630. He was educated at Cambridge, England, and subsequently became rector of a parish in Leicester. Becoming a nonconform- ist, he was deprived of his benefice, and was employed among his former parishioners as a lecturer. While apprehending an interruption in these duties in the shape of a summons to appear before the high commission court, he received an invitation from the Massachusetts company to proceed to their colony. He em- barked early in May, 1629, and arrived at Sa- lem June 29, and on July 20 was chosen teacher of the congregation established there, Samuel Skelton, his companion on the voyage, being chosen pastor. Each of them consecrated the other by the laying on of hands, assisted by several of the gravest men. Subsequently Hig- ginson drew up " a confession of faith and church covenant according to Scripture," which on Aug. 6 was assented to by 30 persons, who associated themselves as a church. On this occasion, says Palfrey, "the ministers, whose dedication to the sacred office had appeared in- complete till it was made by a church consti- tuted by mutual covenant, were ordained to their several offices by the imposition of the hands of some of the brethren appointed by the church." Higginson continued to discharge the duties of his office until the succeeding year, when, in the general sickness which ravaged the colony, he was attacked by a hectic fever of which he ultimately died. He wrote " New England's Plantations, or a Short and True Description of the Commodities and Discom- modities of the Country" (4to, London, 1630), and an account of his voyage, which is pre- served in Hutchinson's collection of papers. II. John, an American clergyman, son of the preceding, born at Claybrooke, Leicestershire, England, Aug. 6, 1616, died in Salem, Mass., Dec. 9, 1708. He emigrated to New England with his father, adopted the profession of a preacher, and for many years was settled