Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/772

* HEDGEHOG. ri2 HEDONISM. can sustain falls from eonsiderable heights with- out apparent injury. The common hedgehog (Erinaceus Europwus) is a native of all Europe and of Western Asia. Its short ears are one of its distinctive specific characters. It is seldom more than nine and a half inches in length. Its spines are about an inch long. It readily kills snakes, and even vipers, which it eats, beginning always at the tail. It brings forth from two to four young at a birth, and provides for the occasion a curiously constructed nest, mostly of dry leaves, of which the roof is capable of throwing off the rain. The young are blind at first, their ears are closed, and their bodies are covered with soft, incipient spines. In winter the hedgehog becomes torpid, retiring to a hole at the base of a tree, beneath roots, or in some such situation. It provides no winter store, and few animals hibernate so com- pletely. The hedaehog is easily tamed, becomes very familiar, and is very useful in houses where cockroaches are troublesome. Night is its period of activity. Its flesh is eaten in some parts of Europe, but in Great Britain only by gypsies, who roll the animal up in a ball oif clay, and so roast it. About eighteen other species of hedge- hogs are found in different parts of Asia and Africa, but no closely related animal is included in the American fauna. See Plate of Porcupines AND Hedgehog.?. HEDGEHOG PLANT (so called from the shape). A name given to those species of medic (Medicago) in which the pods are spirally twisted and rolled up into a ball, beset with spines. The peculiar appearance of the pods makes them objects of interest, ob which ac- count they sometimes find a place on flower borders. Like other medics, they are useful as sheep and cattle food in countries where they abound. They are particularly plentiful on sandy grounds near the sea in some parts of South America, and their bur-like pods are often abundant in South American wool. HEDGE-HYSSOP. See Gbatiola. HEDGE-MUSTARD, Sisymbrium. A genus of plants of the natural order Cruciferfe, mostly annual or perennial herbs, with various foliage, yellow or white flowers, and long, roundish or six- angled pods. Several species are natives of Eu- rope, of which one, the common hedge-mustard {Sisymbrium ofjicinale), was once employed in medicine for catarrh and other ailments, and still is sometimes cultivated as a pot-herb on ac- count of its mild pungency. It is abundantly in- troduced into the United States, where it is con- sidei-ed a troublesome weed. Broad-leaved hedge, or London rocket {Sisymbrium irio) , is said to have sprung up in great abundance on the ground desolated by the fire of London in 1666. There are a number of other weedy specie.s. Sisym- brium Sophia is sometimes known as flixweed. Sisymbrium Ailiaria has a garlic-like odor. HEDGE-NETTLE. See Stachys. HEDGE-SPARROW, Hedge- Warbleb, or Dtjnnock. A familiar European warbler {Ac- centor modularis) . It is not quite as large as the house-sparrow, which it somewhat resembles in dull brownish plumage, but in little else. It feeds principally on insects. It is one of the ear- liest spring songsters, having a sweet plaintive song. The nest, of green moss, roots, and wool, lined with hair, is usually placed rather low in a bush or hedge. The eggs are four or five in num- ber, of a delicate and spotless bluish green. HEDIN, he-den', Sven Anders ( 1865— ) . A Swedish explorer, born at Stockholm, and edu- cated there and at Upsala (1885), at Berlin and at Ualle, where, in 1892, he received the doc- torate. He traveled in Southwestern Asia in 1885-86, and gave an account of his journey in Oenom Persien, Mesopotamien och Kaukasien (1887) ; was a member of the Swedish commis- sion to Teheran, which he described in Eonung Oscar's beskickniiig till Schalien af Persien (1891); and in Genom Khorasan och Tiirkistan (1892) told of his experiences in Central Asia in 1890-91. In the years 1894 to 1897 he trav- eled through East Turkestan, the Pamir, the Takla-Makan Desert, northern Tibet, and the Desert of Ordos, reaching Peking and returning west through Mongolia and Siberia, and in the latter year won the Ivarl Ritter medal from the Berlin Geographical .Society. These remarkable journeys, performed at times amid extraordinary hardships, were described in the book. Through Asia (1899), which made the author's repu- tation in England and America; and, less popularly, in Petermanns Mitteilungen (1900): "Die geogiaphisch-wissensehaftlichen Ergebnisse meiner Reisen in Central Asien, 1894-97." He- din's expedition of 1899 to 1902 explored the lower cour.se of t!ie Tariiii, the country between it and the Tchertchen-Darya, the region of Lob-Nor. the Desert of Gobi, and the greater part of Tibet. He made two unsuccessful attempts to enter the sacred city of Lhasa. Hedin accepted invitations to visit America for a course of university lec- tures for the early part of 1903. HEDJAZ, he-jiiz' (Turk., land of pilgrimage). A Turkish vilayet of Arabia (q.v. ), extending along the northeast shore of the Red Sea from the Gulf of Akabah to about the parallel of 20° N. (Map: Turkey in Asia, P 10). It reaches to the Nefud Desert on the east. Its area is esti- mated at 96.500 square miles. The district is barren, being covered with sand and eruptive material. In parts of the interior there are mountains reaching an altitude of about 6000 feet. The country is traversed by numerous wadis. The climate is hot and dry, and vegeta- 1ion is found only in a few oases. The popula- tion is estimated at about 300,000, consisting of Bedouins, many of whom are engaged in the plundering of caravans. Hedjaz is important in the Mohammedan world, for within its confines are the tw.i sacred cities of Mecca and Medina. The chief port is .Jeddah. HEDLINGER, hi5d'ling-er, .Tohann Karl (1091-1771). A Swiss stamp-cutter, born at Schwyz. He completed his studies in Paris, and then went to Sweden, where he was appointed royal medalist in 1718. His pupil, Fehrman. suc- ceeded him as a medalist to the King, and fin- ished from his designs a series of portraits of Swedish sovereigns. His works vprc published with a French text by C. de Michel (1778, forty plates), and with a German text hv -J. C. Fiiszli and .T. :p. Haid (1781-82. eighty plates). HED'ONISM (from Ok. rtSovfi. /irrfoiif. pleas- ure: connected with i^Sm. hcdys. Lat. suavis, Goth, silts. OHG. suo~i. Ger. .suss. Eng. siceet, Skt. svadu, sweet, from svad. to make pleasant, to taste). The theory that pleasure is the high-