shaped summit, is 20
miles long, extending north-east and south-west. The formation is a hard dark-grey crystalline limestone belonging to the Neocomian period, and full of fossils. The spurs consist in some cases of white chalk covering the limestone, and on the south there are several basaltic outbreaks. The mountain in spring is covered with snow, but in autumn there is occasionally none left, even in the ravines. To the height of 500
feet it is clothed with oaks and brush, while luxuriant vineyards abound. Above the snow limit the mountain is bare and covered with fine limestone shingle. The summit is a plateau from which three rocky knolls rise up, that on the west being the lowest, that on the south-east the highest: On the south slope of the latter are remains of the small temple or sacellum described by St Jerome. A semicircular dwarf wall of good masonry runs round this peak, and a trench excavated in the rock may perhaps indicate the site of an altar. On the plateau is a cave about 25 feet square, with the entrance on the east. A rock column supports the roof, and a building once stood above. The view from Hermon is very extensive, embracing all Lebanon and the plains east of Damascus, with Palestine as far as Carmel and Tabor. On a clear day Jaffa may also be seen. Other small temples are found on the sides of Hermon, of which twelve in all have been explored. They face the east, and are dated by architects about
200 a.d. The most remarkable are those of Deer el ’Ashaiyir, Wibbariyeh, osn Niha, and Tell Thatha. At the ruined town called Rukhleh on the northern slopes are remains of a temple, the stones of which have been built into a church. A large medallion 5 feet in diameter, with a head supposed to represent the sun-god, is built into the wall. Several Greek inscriptions occur among these ruins. Foxes, wolves, and the Syrian bear are commonly found on Hermon, with various kinds of game. In the
12th century Psalm Ixxxix. 12 was supposed to indicate the proximity of Hermon to Tabor. The conical hill immediately south of Tabor was thus named Little Hermon, and is still so called by sume of the inhabitants of the district.
HERMOSILLO, a town of Mexico, state of Sonora, is situated at the entrance to a valley of remarkable fertility near the river Sonora at its confluence with the Horcasitas, 40 miles south-west of Ures. Some of the principal houses are built of stone, but most of the dwellings are of adobe. The town possesses two churches, a prison, and a mint. Its rise and early prosperity were due to the discovery of gold mines in Sonora, but it now depends wholly on the fertility of the surrounding country, of which the principal products are cotton, wheat, grapes, and a great variety of fruits. The town is the commercial ceutre of Sonora. It has cotton manufactories, flour mills, and brandy distilleries, and carries on a considerable foreign trade by means of the port of Guaymas, which is 100 miles distant. The population is about 14,000.
HERMSDORF, generally known as Niederhermsdorf, a town of Prussia, in the government district of Breslau and circle of Waldenburg. There are coal and iron mines and lime quarries in the vicinity, and in the town there is a large iron-work. The population in 1875 was 5984.
HERNIA (a Latin term commonly derived from épvos, a sprout, but this origin is doubtful) is the protrusion of any viscus from its normal cavity ; for example, hernia cerebri is the name given to a protrusion of the brain substance, hernia pulmonum a protrusion of a portion of thelung. The word may here be restricted to its most usual meaning, a pro- trusion of part of the contents of the abdomen from their normal position in the abdominal cavity,—in common language a “rupture.” A rupture may occur at any weak point in the abdominal wall. The common situations are the groin (inguinal hernia), the upper part of the thigh (femoral hernia), and the umbilicus or navel (umbilical hernia). The contents of a rupture may be any of the abdominal viscera ; the more movable the viscus the more tendency there is to protrusion, and therefore we generally find that the small intestine and the omentum are most frequently displaced. The tumour may contain intestine alone (enterocele), omentum alone (epiplocele), or a combination of intestine and omentum (entero-epiplocele). The predisposing cause to rupture is any weakness of the abdo- minal wall due (1) to natural conformity, as in inguinal hernia, which descends along the inguinal canal, a canal in which the cord lies in the male and the round ligament in the female; or in femoral hernia, in which the hernia descends along the femoral canal along with and to the inner side of the femoral vessels ; (2) to any cause which weakens the wall locally, as an abscess or wound; (3) to general laxity of the tissues, as in weakly people, or after repeated pregnancies. This third cause only predisposes to hernia in so far as it may weaken an already weak part under the first and second heads. The exciting cause of hernia is generally some strain or over-exertion in any powerful effort, as lifting a heavy weight, jumping off a high wall, straining, as in difficult micturition or in conse- quence of constipation, or excessive coughing, as in chronic bronchitis. The pressure of the diaphragm above and the anterior abdominal wall in front acting on the abdominal viscera tends to cause their protrusion at the weakest point. Rupture is either congenital or acquired. A child may be born with a hernia in the inguinal or umbilical region, the result of an arrest of development in these parts; or the rupture may be acquired, first appearing perhaps in adult life, the result of one or other of the accidents referred to above. Nuptures are most frequent at the extremes of life. Men suffer more frequently than women, because they are more liable to those accidents, being frequently exposed to intermittent work, such as the lifting of heavy weights.
At first the rupture is small, and with more or less rapidity it gradually increases in size; it varies from the size of a small marble to that of a child’s head or even larger. The swelling which appears is spoken of as con- sisting of three parts,—the coverings, sac, and contents. (1) The “coverings” are composed of the different struc- tures which form the abdominal wall at the part whcre the rupture occurs. In femoral hernia the coverings are | formed of the structures at the upper part of the thigh. | These structures are stretched and may be thinned; in | some cases they are condensed and matted together, the result of pressure ; in others there is an increase in their thickness, the result of repeated attacks of inflammation. (2) The “sac” is composed of the peritoneum or mem- brane lining the abdominal cavity; in some very rare cases the sac is wanting. The neck of the sac is the term used to designate the narrowed portion where the peri- toneum forming the sac becomes continuous with the general peritoneal cavity. Very frequently the neck of the sac is thickened, indurated, and adherent to surround- ing parts, because here the tendency to local inflammatory action is most marked, the pressure being greatest at this point. (3) The “contents” have already been described. There are three distinct conditions in which we may find the contents of a hernial tumour: it may be either reducible, irreducible, or strangulated. A “reducible” hernia is one in which the contents can be pushed back into the abdomen. In some cases this is done with ease, in others it is a matter of great difficulty. At any moment a reducible hernia may become “irreducible,” that is to say, its contents cannot be pushed back into the abdominal cavity. This may suddenly occur in conse- quence of an attack of constipation, or slowly, the irreduci- bility being at first partial and gradually becoming more
