in the pericardium of the germs of rheumatism, influenza or gonorrhoea, or of those of ordinary suppuration. Respiration as well as circulation is embarrassed, and there is a marked fulness and dulness of the front wall of the chest to the left of the breast-bone. In that region also pain and tenderness are complained of. By using the slender, hollow needle of an aspirator great relief may be afforded, but the tapping may have to be repeated from time to time. If the fluid drawn off is found to be purulent, it may be necessary to make a trap-door opening into the chest by cutting across the 4th and 5th ribs, incising and evacuating the pericardium and providing for drainage. In short, an abscess in the pericardium must be treated like an abscess in the pleura.
Wounds of the heart are apt to be quickly fatal. If the probability is that the enfeebled action of the heart is due to pressure from blood which is leaking into, and is locked up in the pericardium, the proper treatment will be to open the pericardium, as described above, and, if possible, to close the opening in the auricle, ventricle or large vessel, by sutures. (E. O.*)
HEART-BURIAL, the burial of the heart apart from the body.
This is a very ancient practice, the special reverence shown
towards the heart being doubtless due to its early association
with the soul of man, his affections, courage and conscience.
In medieval Europe heart-burial was fairly common. Some
of the more notable cases are those of Richard I., whose heart,
preserved in a casket, was placed in Rouen cathedral; Henry III.,
buried in Normandy; Eleanor, queen of Edward I., at Lincoln;
Edward I., at Jerusalem; Louis IX., Philip III., Louis XIII.
and Louis XIV., in Paris. Since the 17th century the hearts
of deceased members of the house of Habsburg have been buried
apart from the body in the Loretto chapel in the Augustiner
Kirche, Vienna. The most romantic story of heart-burial is
that of Robert Bruce. He wished his heart to rest at Jerusalem in
the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and on his deathbed entrusted
the fulfilment of his wish to Douglas. The latter broke his
journey to join the Spaniards in their war with the Moorish king
of Granada, and was killed in battle, the heart of Bruce enclosed
in a silver casket hanging round his neck. Subsequently the
heart was buried at Melrose Abbey. The heart of James,
marquess of Montrose, executed by the Scottish Covenanters in
1650, was recovered from his body, which had been buried by
the roadside outside Edinburgh, and, enclosed in a steel box,
was sent to the duke of Montrose, then in exile. It was lost on
its journey, and years afterwards was discovered in a curiosity
shop in Flanders. Taken by a member of the Montrose family
to India, it was stolen as an amulet by a native chief, was once
more regained, and finally lost in France during the Revolution.
Of notable 17th-century cases there is that of James II., whose
heart was buried in the church of the convent of the Visitation
at Chaillot near Paris, and that of Sir William Temple, at Moor
Park, Farnham. The last ceremonial burial of a heart in England
was that of Paul Whitehead, secretary to the Monks of Medmenham
club, in 1775, the interment taking place in the Le
Despenser mausoleum at High Wycombe, Bucks. Of later cases
the most notable are those of Daniel O’Connell, whose heart is
at Rome, Shelley at Bournemouth, Louis XVII. at Venice,
Kosciusko at the Polish museum at Rapperschwyll, Lake Zürich,
and the marquess of Bute, taken by his widow to Jerusalem for
burial in 1900. Sometimes other parts of the body, removed in
the process of embalming, are given separate and solemn burial.
Thus the viscera of the popes from Sixtus V. (1590) onward have
been preserved in the parish church of the Quirinal. The custom
of heart-burial was forbidden by Pope Boniface VIII. (1294–1303),
but Benedict XI. withdrew the prohibition.
See Pettigrew, Chronicles of the Tombs (1857).
HEARTH (a word which appears in various forms in several
Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch haard, German Herd, in the sense
of “floor”), the part of a room where a fire is made, usually
constructed of stone, bricks, tiles or earth, beaten hard and
having a chimney above; the fire being lighted either on the
hearth itself, or in a receptacle placed there for the purpose.
Like the Latin focus, especially in the phrase for “hearth and
home” answering to pro aris et focis, the word is used as equivalent
to the home or household. The word is also applied to the
fire and cooking apparatus on board ship; the floor of a smith’s
forge; the floor of a reverberatory furnace on which the ore is
exposed to the flame; the lower part of a blast furnace through
which the metal goes down into the crucible; in soldering, a
portable brazier or chafing dish, and an iron box sunk in the
middle of a flat iron plate or table. An “open-hearth furnace”
is a regenerative furnace of the reverberatory type used in making
steel, hence “open-hearth steel” (see Iron and Steel).
Hearth-money, hearth tax or chimney-money, was a tax imposed in England on all houses except cottages at a rate of two shillings for every hearth. It was first levied in 1662, but owing to its unpopularity, chiefly caused by the domiciliary visits of the collectors, it was repealed in 1689, although it was producing £170,000 a year. The principle of the tax was not new in the history of taxation, for in Anglo-Saxon times the king derived a part of his revenue from a fumage or tax of smoke farthings levied on all hearths except those of the poor. It appears also in the hearth-penny or tax of a penny on every hearth, which as early as the 10th century was paid annually to the pope (see Peter’s Pence).
HEARTS, a game of cards of recent origin, though founded
upon the same principle as many old games, such as Slobberhannes,
Four Jacks and Enflé, namely, that of losing instead of
winning as many tricks as possible. Hearts is played with a full
pack, ace counting highest and deuce lowest. In the four-handed
game, which is usually played, the entire pack is dealt out as at
whist (but without turning up the last card, since there are no
trumps), and the player at the dealer’s left begins by leading any
card he chooses, the trick being taken by the highest card of the
suit led. Each player must follow suit if he can; if he has no
cards of the suit led he is privileged to throw away any card he
likes, thus having an opportunity of getting rid of his hearts, which
is the object of the game. When all thirteen tricks have been
played each player counts the hearts he has taken in and pays
into the pool a certain number of counters for them, according
to an arrangement made before beginning play. In the four-handed,
or sweepstake, game the method of settling called
“Howell’s,” from the name of the inventor, has been generally
adopted, according to which each player begins with an equal
number of chips, say 100, and, after the hand has been played,
pays into the pool as many chips for each heart he had taken as
there are players besides himself. Then each player takes out
of the pool one chip for every heart he did not win. The pool
is thus exhausted with every deal. Hearts may be played by
two, three, four or even more players, each playing for himself.
Spot Hearts.—In this variation the hearts count according to the number of spots on the cards, excepting that the ace counts 14, the king 13, queen 12 and knave 11, the combined score of the thirteen hearts being thus 104.
Auction Hearts.—In this the eldest hand examines his hand and bids a certain number of counters for the privilege of naming the suit to be got rid of, but without naming the suit. The other players in succession have the privilege of outbidding him, and whoever bids most declares the suit and pays the amount of his bid into the pool, the winner taking it.
Joker Hearts.—Here the deuce of hearts is discarded, and an extra card, called the joker, takes its place, ranking in value between ten and knave. It cannot be thrown away, excepting when hearts are led and an ace or court card is played, though if an opponent discards the ace or a court card of hearts, then the holder of the joker may discard it. The joker is usually considered worth five chips, which are either paid into the pool or to the player who succeeds in discarding the joker.
Heartsette.—In this variation the deuce of spades is deleted and the three cards left after dealing twelve cards to each player are called the widow (or kitty), and are left face downward on the table. The winner of the first trick must take the widow without showing it to his opponents.
Slobberhannes.—The object of this older form of Hearts is to avoid taking either the first or last trick or a trick containing the queen of clubs. A euchre pack (thirty two-cards, lacking all below the 7) is used, and each player is given 10 counters, one being forfeited to the pool if a player takes the first or last trick, or that containing the club queen. If he takes all three he forfeits four points.
