Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/759

 HIPPO^AX HIPPOPOTAMUS ford in 1851, as a work of Origen. This au- thorship was immediately contested by Dr. Jacobi in Berlin and Dr. Duncker in Gottin- gen, who both claimed the work as belonging to Hippolytus. Finally this claim was suc- cessfully sustained by Bunsen in his "Hip- polytus and his Times " (4 vols. 8vo, Lon- don, 1851), and in a second enlarged edition of the same work, under the title "Chris- tianity and Mankind" (7 vols. 8vo, 1854). The light thrown on Hippolytus and his wri- tings by Bunsen's conclusions, now generally adopted by critics, gives unity to the traditions, and explains the contradictions respecting him. The work "Against Heresies," specified in the inscription on the statue, is claimed as his own by the author of the Mount Athos manuscript, and is attributed by the most eminent author- ities to Hippolytus, bishop of Portus, presby- ter of the Roman church, who lived and wrote about 220, as the "Paschal Cycle" and his statue expressly state. It is thus established that he was a disciple of Irenseus, a member of the Roman presbytery, appointed (most likely because of his knowledge of Greek) bishop of the Portus Romanus or Romce, the new harbor of Rome, established by Trajan on the right bank of the Tiber, over against the more ancient Ostia. He is called " bishop of the Gentiles," because the population of the new city was made up of floating masses of heathen strangers, drawn thither by com- merce. In 218 he was actively ministering to them ; in 222 he was engaged in a violent op- sition to Pope Calixtus I., whose mild treat- ment of repentant sinners he reprobated ; in 235, in all likelihood immediately after the ieath of Alexander Severus, he was by the ler of Maximin banished to Sardinia, to- _ 3ther with Pontianus, bishop of Rome ; was permitted to return to his see in 236; and not long after was put to death, as the tradi- tion quoted by Prudentius states, by being torn to pieces by wild horses. Prudentius also informs us that he visited his tomb in the church of St. Laurentius in Rome, and Bun- sen is of opinion that the statue discovered in 1551 was erected on the removal of his relics. The doctrine of Hippolytus on the Trinity and the incarnation of the Word is that proclaimed at Nicsea a century later, and lis philosophical explanations of dogma show lim to belong to the Platonic school. The best editions of his works are that of Fabri- nus (2 vols. fol., Hamburg, 1716-'18), repro- luced with important additions by Galland in vol. ii. of his BibliotJieca Patrum (Venice, 1766), and that of Lagarde (Leipsic, 1858). HIPPONAX, a Greek lyric poet of the latter half of the 6th century B. C. He was a native of Ephesus, was banished by its tyrants Athe- nagoras and Comas, and afterward lived in Cla- zomenge in extreme poverty. He was small and ugly in person, and was one of the severest of Greek satirists. His favorite themes were the effeminacy and vices of his fellow citizens, and the faithlessness of women. The Chian sculp- tors Bupalus and Athenis, who made caricature statues of him, were assailed in the bitterest of his satires. Of th e poems of Hipponax about 100 lines are still extant. f HIPPOPOTAMUS (Gr. ivr?, horse, and n6ra^, river), a pachydermatous animal, inhabiting Africa. It is generally called sea cow by the Cape colonists, a term which is usually applied in America to the manatee. The dental formu- la is : four incisors in each jaw, long, cylindri- cal, pointed, and inclined for ward below, short, conical, and curved above; canines four, re- sembling the incisors of rodents, the upper ones straight, the lower thick and bent, overlapping the upper ; the molars six on each side in each jaw, the anterior three more pointed, and the posterior with the points in the 1 adult worn in a trefoil shape. Its powerful jaws, sub-cylin- drical lower incisors, and chisel-edged canines are formed for tearing and crushing rather than grinding the coarse tough plants and aquatic roots and grasses upon which it principally feeds; the canines seem excessively developed. In its skull the hippopotamus resembles the hog in the connection of the bones and their su- tures, in other respects being more like the ox ; the skeleton is very massive, indicating the great size and strength and rather slow loco- motive powers of the animal. The skull is re- markable for the horizontal plane of its upper portion, the eyes, nostrils, and ears of the ani- mal when in the water being nearly upon the same level, and the upper part of the head, when this alone is visible, looking not unlike that of a horse ; the bony orbits are very prom- inent, projecting above the top of the skull. The stomach is multiple, something as in ru- minants, though it is not known to chew the cud ; it can contain five or six bushels of vege- table matter, and the large intestine is about 8 in. in diameter ; the intestinal canal, without ceecum, is nearly 12 times as long as the body, considerably more than 120 ft. The average length of the male from the end of the nose to the tip of the tail (the latter being about a foot) is 14 ft., but they have been known to measure 17ft. ; the females are much smaller; the girth is nearly equal to the length, and the height at the shoulders between 5 and 6 ft. ; the aper- ture of the mouth is about 2 ft. wide, and the tusks are more than a foot long. This huge uncouth body, of a form between that of an over-fed pig and a fattened ox, is supported on short stout limbs, with four toes on each small foot, nearly equal and with short hoofs; the massive head is broad, and the expression of the face singular from the high position of the eyes ; the lips are wide and tumid, especially the upper, concealing the teeth when the mouth is shut, and furnished with a few tufts of hair ; the nose is broad and truncated, and the nos- trils, on the end and capable of protrusion so that the animal may breathe when all the body is under water, may be closed during submer- sion; the prominent eyes enjoy great freedom