Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/22

* HERNANI. HERNANI, OU L'HONNETJR CASTIL- LAN, flruii'iir', Ho UViirr' kii'st.'yii.N' (Kr., ller- nani, or (ustilinii honur). A nunantic livcact trajjeily in verse, by Viclor llii^:o. At its fi^^^t pcrforiimiue in 1830 at the Tlk'fltre Fraiujais, the preseiiee of Hugo's partisans in bizarre costumes gave rise to the "Battle of Hernani." a series of personal encounters t«>tveen the adherents of the Chissical and tile Romantic schools of French playwrights. The play rests on the love of three suitors, Don Carlos, Kuy Gomez, and the bandit Hernani, for Dofia Sol. Hernani. on whose head a reward is set, is surprised with DoDa Sol by Ruy Gomez, who shelters him from the pursuit of the King on condition that at the bla.st of a horn Hernani shall give himself up. In the denoue- ment Hernani is about to wed Dona Sol, wlien the horn sounds and the lovers kill themselves. The plot is highly improbable and without historical truth, but is redeemed by great richness of imagery and poetic feeling. HERNDON, hern'don. Willi.v.m Henry ( 1818- 91). .m .meriean lawyer, born in Greensburg, Ky. W hen lie was two years old his parents re- moved to Illinois. In 1830 he entered Illinois College, but was removed by his father in con- sequence of the abolition sentiments of the fac- ulty. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1S44, when he formed a partnership with Abraliam Lincoln, which was dissolved only by the latter's death. In 1855 he was Jlayor of Springfield, III. In connection with Jesse W. Weik, who assisted in putting into literary form the material ho (Ilerndon) had collected, he published Herndon's Lincoln: The True S<tory of a Great Life (new <d. 1891 ). which is of especial value for the account it gives of Lincoln's early life and personal habits. HERNE. A town of Westphalia, Prussia, Germany, U miles northeast of Essen by rail. It is the centre of great industrial activity, with coal-mines and manufactures of machinery and gunpowder. It was incorporated in 1807. Popu- lation, in 1900, 27,863. HERNE, .Tames A. (1840-1001). An Ameri- can actor and playwright. He was bom in Troy, N. Y., where after a brief experience 'on the road' he made his appearance, in 1859, with a stock company in Vncle Tom's Cnhin. Afterwards he played in Baltimore and Washington, and then went to California. He had become a popular actor, both East and West, before he produced his first play. Hearts of Oak, in 1878. Tliis was very successful, but his subsequent productions, such as Driftimi Apart and Margaret Fleminf), were less fortunate, till in the spa.son of 1892-93 his Shore Acr^s at the Boston Museum made its author famous. It is a rural comedy in which be. as 't^ncle Nat' Berrj-, presented a character full of honest humor and touching pathos, and the play kept the boards almost without a break for six years. In 1809 he produced The Rev. Oriffith Davenport, and the following year Sag Harhor. Consult Strang, Famous Actors of the Day in .imeriea (Boston, 1900). HERNE THE HUNTER. A character in popular tr.idition. who. it was believed, walked at midnight by an ancient oak in Windsor For- est. In Shakespeare's Merrii TViip.s of iri>i(f.<or (iv., 4), he is described as a spirit, with huge horns on his head, who disturbs the revels of the fairies. He also plays a part in Harrison Ains- 10 HERNIA, worth's romance entitled Windsor CaslJc. Heme's oak, said to liave been (ioO years old, was blown down in 18t!3. A young oak was planted on the s])ot by Queen Victoria. HERNIA (Lat.. rupture). A protrusion, through an abnormal or accidental o|K'ning, of any organ from its n.itural cavity. Although hernia may occur in many parts of the body, the word is usually restricted to signify protrusion of the abdomin'il viscera. The abdominal viscera are subject to violent pressure from the dia- phragm and the muscles of the al)ilomen. This pressure forces them outward and downward against the walls of the belly; and if at any point these walls are not sullicientlj' strong to re- sist this pressure, some portion of the viscera is driven through them, and a hernial tumor is formed. Certain parts of the abdominal walls, es- pecially the ingviinal and crural rings, and the umbilicus, being weaker than others, hernia most frequently occurs at these points. In some in- stances hernia is congenital, as from abnormal deficiency of the w alls : in other cases it may arise at any period of life as a result of violent bodily exertion, such as straining in lifting, jumping, etc. Sex. age, and occupation seem to have a marked inlluence on predisposition to her- nia. Men are far more liable 1 in about the pro- portion of four to one) to this disease than women, though they are less so to those forms of the affection known as femoral and umbilical hernia. A hernia is almost always composed of a sac and its content-s. The sac is a portion of the peritoneum (q.v. ) corresponding to the aperture at which the hernia protrudes. It is pushed for- ward by the protruding viscus, and forms a pouch. The contents vary greatly, but generally consist of a portion of the small intestine (par- ticularly of the ileum), forming the variety of hernia known as enterocele. Omentum is often found in hernial sacs, together with intestine. Besides the viscera, the sac always contains a certain quantity of fluid secreted by its interior. Hernia is divisible ( 1 ) into reducible, or retirn- able into the abdomen, irreducible, and strangu- lated ; and (2) according to its situation, into inguinal, crural, femoral, umbilical, etc. The treatment of reducible henna may he palliative or radical. The palliative treatment consists in the application of a tniss (q.v.) to retain the protrusion within the cavity of the abdomen. Each particular kind of hernia requires its spe- cial form of truss: and l)efore applying it. tlic hernia must be reduced by placing the patient on his back, relaxing the muscles by Iiending the thigh upon the abdomen, and pressing the tumor back in the projier direction. The truss should then be put on. and should be worn during the day. The means that have been contrived to cflTect a radical cure are too purely surgical for description in these pages. Below the age of puberty, and if the hernia is recent, a radical cure is sometimes efTected by wearing the truss for two or three years. In irreducible hernia the protruded viscera cannot be returned into the abdomen, but there is no impediment to the pas- sage of their contents or to their circulation. In these cases the patient is often liable to draguing pains in the abdomen and to attacks of vomiting. ■The treatment consists in avoidance of violent exercise and of constipation, and in wearing a support for the protection of the tumor. Hernia