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I1ARPE, in mythology, a crooked sword wherewith Mercurycut off Argus’s head, and Perseus that of Medusa .
HARPIES. See Harpy , and IIarpyije.
HARPING-IUON, [from harpago, Hat.] a bearded dart witha line fastened to the handle, with which w hales are Struck andcaught.
IIARP1NGS, the fore-parts of the wales which encompass thebow of a ship, and are fastened to the stem, being thicker than theafter-part of the wales, in order to reinfoice the ship in this place,where she sustains the greatest shock of resistance in plunging intothe sea, or dividing it, under a great pressure of sail.
IIARPOCRATES, in mythology; the son of Isis and Osiris ;an Egyptian deity, represented with his lingers applied to hismouth, denoting that he is the god of silence.
IT Alt PON ELLY, a district of Hindustan, in the Mysore country.
IIarponelly, the capital of the above district, 65 miles N.N.E.of Bedamore.
HARPOON , [harpon , Fr.] a harping-iron. This instrument isa spear or javelin used to strike the whales in the Greenland fish-ery. It is furnished with a long staff, 'having at one end abroad and flat triangular head, sharpened at both edges, so as topenetrate the whale with facility: to the head of this weapon isfastened a long cord, called the whale-line, which lies carefullycoiled in the boat, in such a manner as to run out without beinginterrupted or entangled. See Whale-Fishery.
Harpoon , Gun, a kind of fire-arm for discharging harpoons atwhales, and thereby killing them more expeditiously than for-merly, when the harpoons were thrown by the hand. Thoughthis method was projected many years ago, it has but lately comeinto use; and premiums have been annually offered by the so-ciety for encouraging arts, &c, to the persons who first struck afish in this manner. In the Transactions of that society for 1736,we have an account of the first fish struck in this manner in 1784.The gun was of the blunderbuss-construction, loaded with fourcommon tobacco-pipes full of glazed powder; the fish was shotat the distance of ten fathoms, the harpoon going into her back upto the ring ; and she Mas killed in about an hour. In 17S5, threewhales were killed in this manner; four in 1786, and three in1787. Since that time the gun-harpoon has come more into use,and will probably soon supersede the other method entirely. Inthe Philosophical Transactions for 1789, we have accounts of anumber of whales killed in this manner. The instrument ap-pears to be extremely useful in calm weather, as the whale,though a timorous creature, will frequently allow a boat to ap-proach it within twenty, fifteen, or even ten, fathoms, all of whichdistances are within reach of the gun-harpoon, though not withinthe reach of that thrown by the hand. The greatest inconveniencewas in case of rain or snow, by which the lock w as apt to get wet.To remedy this, a case of leather was made to lit round the gun,and over the lock, lined with tin, and big enough to fire the gunwhen it was on. The fish struck with an harpoon discharged inthis manner are soon killed, by reason of its penetrating theirbodies to the depth of five or six feet, which no man’s strengthwould be able to accomplish. In the volume just quoted, wehave an account of one which was shot through the tail. The har-poon broke in the slit, but five fathoms of line went through thetail. The li-hwas killed in eight hours, which is perhaps theonly instance of a fish struck in that part being caught. In anotherthe harpoon carried six feet of line in’o 1 its bods, and the crea-ture died in ten minutes. Others were killed in fifteen minutes orhalf an hour, and one had a rib broken by the violence of thestroke. See Plate I.XXXV. fig. 1.
HARPSICHORD , a musical instrument, strung with wires,and plaveri bv striking keys. This is the mo-t harmonious of all themusical in 'ruments of the string-kind. It is played on after tiemanner of the organ, and is furnished with a set, ..nd sometime,with two sets, of ke\s; the touching or striking of these key*.moves a kind of little jacks, w hich also move a double row of stringsof brass or iron, stretched over four bridges on the table of the in-strument.
IIARPY 1/E, [‘APrrmr,] the Harpies , in mythology, were arapacious impure sort of monster , with wings and bear , nkebears, bodies like vultures, faces like women, and feet and bauds
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hooked like the talons of birds ot prey,. The ancients believedthe harpies to be genii or demon*.
IIARt-lC KRESS, a kind oi a gun, of (he length of a musket,usually cocked with a wheel, it carries a ball weighing' oneounce and seven-eighths There was also a larger sort, calk'd thegreat harquebuss, used for the defence of strong places, which car-ried a ball ot about three ounces and a halt. They are now littleused, except in some old castles and garrisons.
HARRIOT, 'Thomas, an eminent algebraist, born at Oxfordin 1560, w Here he took the degree of lb A. in*1570. being dis-tinguished lor his mathematical learning, he was recommended toSir Walter Raleigh , who, in 1585, sent liftn with the colony, un-der Sir Richard Grenville to Virginia. Alter having remainedthere about a year, lie published a topographical description of it.About 1588, he was introduced by his patron Sir Walter Raleigh to llenry, Earl of Northumberland, wlso allowed him a pensionof 120/. per annum, ile spent many years in Sion College;where he died in July 1691, of a cancer in his lip, and was buriedin tile church ol St. Christopher, where a handsome monumentwas erected-to his memory. He was one of the first mathemati-cians of the age in which he lived, and will always he rememberedas the inventor of the present improved method of algebraical cal-culation; which was adopted by Des Cartes , and for a considera-ble time imposed upon the French nation as his own invention;hut the llieit was at last detected by Dr. Wallis, in his History ofAlgebra, where our author’s invention is accurately specified. His-wo.ks are, 1. A brief and true Report of the New-found land ofVirginia; of the Commodities there found, and to lx; raised, S:c.2. Artis Analytical Praxis ad vEqualiones AlgTbraicas nova expe-dita, cl gcnerali Melhodo resolvendas, e Postlnimis Thonue Ilar-rioti, &c. 3. Ephemeris Chvrometrica; MS. in the library of
Sion College. lie left several other MSS. which were inspectedby Dr. Zacli, astronomer to the duke of Sax e-Gotha, in 1784, atPetivorth in Sussex, the seat of the Earl of Evremont, a descend-ant ol Henry, Earl of Northumberland. Dr. Zacli published anaccount of them'in the Astronomical Ephemeris for 1788: fromwhich it appeal's, that Harriot had made great discoveries in astro-nomy, particularly that he had observed the spots in the sun soearly as Dec. 8, 1610 ; which was eighteen months earlier thanGalileo’s first published observations respecting them ; and that lie. had also discovered the satellites of Jupiter, and made drawings ottheir positions, and calculations of their revolutions, in Jan. 1610,the same month when Galileo discovered them. Dr. Zacli adds,that Harriot's observations of the comet of I<>07 are still of use.
HARRIS, James, Esa. an English gentleman of very uncom-mon parts and learning, the son of Janies Harris, Esq. by a sisterof Lord Shaftesbury, author of The Characteristics, lie w as bomat Salisbury, in 1709; and educated there. In 1726, he was re-moved to Wailham College in Oxford. He was member forClirist-cliurch, limit-, in several successive parliaments. In 1763,lie was appointed a lord-commissioner of the admiralty, and soonafter removed to the board of treasury. In 1774 he was made se-cretary and comptroller to the queen, which post he held until hisdeath, ile died Dec. 21, 1780, in his seventy-second year, aftera long illness. lie was author of some valuable works: 1 . Three! realises: concerning Art; Music, Tainting, and Poetry; andHappiness, 1 745, 8vo. 2. Hermes; or, A Philosophical Enquiry concerning Eni versa 1 Grammar. 3. Philosophical Arrangements.4. Thil.logical Enquiries; 1782, 2 vols. 8vo. published s.nce hisdeath.
Harris, a peninsula of the Hebrides forming with Lewis oneol the V e.-tern 1.-lands of Scotland . Harris is twenty miles long,and ten broad.
it AH K t>i>l: RGH, or LOUISI’I’RG, a post-town of Pennsyl-vania , ai.d tiie c. p.l-.l of Dauphine county, seated on the Susqiic-; I,ami; . eighty miles VV. of Pennsylvania .
IIA K HI SDN, John, the* eeu lirated inventor of the famoustime-k eprr for a,c( rle ; nmg he loug'fude at sea, and also of thecompound, or, a- : t is commonly called, die gridiron-pendulum;was bom at F< uh,y, near Pontefr.e t In Yorkshire, in 1693. 'Thevigour of h.s ••svlw:. ' d>:iitif not . trriig'heneil by want of edu-at'ou, wine cnne.iied Ids mention to few objects, at least amplycompensate!: .'T it; r . appearcTf. run the astonishing progress liemade ti.r.t ';*';.neh of inecli;.i'k8 to which he devoted himself.Ills 1 adier was a carpenter, in which lie assisted, amt occasionally
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