HAIDINGER, WILHELM KARL, Ritter von (1795–1871), Austrian mineralogist, geologist and physicist, was born at Vienna on the 5th of February 1795. His father, Karl Haidinger, contributed largely to the development of mineralogical science in the latter half of the 18th century. Having studied at the normal school of St Anne, and attended classes at the university, Wilhelm, at the age of seventeen, joined Professor F. Mohs at Gratz, and five years later accompanied the professor to Freiberg on the transfer of his labours to the mining academy of that town.
In 1822 Haidinger visited France and England with Count Breunner, and, journeying northward, took up his abode in Edinburgh. He translated into English, with additions of his own, Mohs’s Grundriss der Mineralogie, published at Edinburgh in three volumes under the title Treatise on Mineralogy (1825). After a tour in northern Europe, including the Scandinavian mining districts, he undertook the scientific direction of the porcelain works at Elbogen, belonging to his brothers. In 1840 he was appointed counsellor of mines (Bergrat) at Vienna in the place of Professor Mohs, a post which included the charge of the imperial cabinet of minerals. He devoted himself to the rearrangement and enrichment of the collections, and the museum became the first in Europe. Shortly after (1843) Haidinger commenced a series of lectures on mineralogy, which was given to the world under the title Handbuch der bestimmenden Mineralogie (Vienna, 1845; tables, 1846). On the establishment of the imperial geological institute, he was chosen director (1849); and this important position he occupied for seventeen years. He was elected a member of the imperial board of agriculture and mines, and a member of the imperial academy of sciences of Vienna. He organized the society of the Freunde der Naturwissenschaften. As a physicist Haidinger ranked high, and he was one of the most active promoters of scientific progress in Austria. He was the discoverer of the interesting optical appearances which have been called after him “Haidinger’s brushes.” Knighted in 1865, the following year he retired to his estate at Dornbach near Vienna, where he died on the 19th of March 1871.
In addition to the works already named, Haidinger published Anfangsgründe der Mineralogie (Leipzig, 1829); Geognostische Übersichtskarte der österreich. Monarchie (Vienna, 1847); Bemerkungen über die Anordnung der kleinsten Theilchen in Christallen (Vienna, 1853); Interferenzlinien am Glimmer (Vienna, 1855); Vergleichungen von Augit und Amphibol (Vienna, 1855). He also edited the Naturwissenschaftliche Abhandlungen (Vienna, 1847); the Berichte über die Mittheilungen von Freunden der Naturwissenschaften in Wien (Vienna, 1847–1851); and the Jahrbuch of the Vienna K. K. Geologische Reichsanstalt (1850), &c. Some of his papers will be found in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (vol. x.) and of the Wernerian Society (1822–1823), Edinburgh Phil. Journal, Brewster’s Journal of Science, and Poggendorff’s Annalen. (H. B. Wo.)
HAIDUK (also written Hayduk, Heiduc, Heyduke and Heyduque),
a term which appears originally to have meant “robber”
or “brigand,” a sense it retains in Servia and some other parts
of the Balkan Peninsula. It is probably derived from the
Turkish haidūd, “marauder,” but its origin is not absolutely
certain. Most of the European races with which the Turks came
into close contact during the 15th and 16th centuries seem to have
adopted it as a loan-word, and it appears in Magyar as hajdú
(plural hajduk), in Serbo-Croatian, Rumanian, Polish and Čech
as hajduk, in Bulgarian as hajdutin and in Greek as χαιντούτης.
By the beginning of the 17th century its use had spread north
and west as far as Sweden and Great Britain. In Hungary it
was applied to a class of mercenary foot-soldiers of Magyar stock.
In 1605 these haiduks were rewarded for their fidelity to the
Protestant party (see Hungary: History) with titles of nobility
and territorial rights over a district situated on the left bank
of the river Theiss, known thenceforward as the Haiduk region.
This was enlarged in 1876 and converted into the county of
Hajdú (Ger. Hajduken). Hajdú is also a common prefix in
Hungarian place-names, e.g. Hajdú-Szoboszló, Hajdú-Námás.
In Austria-Hungary, Germany, Poland, Sweden and some other
countries, haiduk came to mean an attendant in a court of law,
or a male servant, dressed in Hungarian semi-military costume.
It is also occasionally used as a synonym for “footman” or
“lackey.”
HAIFA, a town of Palestine at the foot of Mt. Carmel, on the
south of the Bay of Acre. It represents the classical Sycaminum,
but the present town is entirely modern. It has developed since
about 1890 into an important port, and is connected by railway
with Damascus. The population is estimated at 12,000 (Moslems
6000, Christians 4000, Jews 1500, Germans 500; the last
belong for the greater part to the Unitarian sect of the
“Templars,” who have colonies also at Jaffa and Jerusalem).
The exports (grain and oil) were valued at £178,738 in 1900.
Much of the trade that formerly went to Acre has been attracted
to Haifa. This port is the best natural harbour on the Palestine
coast.
HAIK (an Arabic word, from hak, to weave), a piece of cloth,
usually of coarse hand-woven wool, worn by Arabs, Moors and
other Mahommedan peoples. It is generally 6 to 612 yds. long,
and about 2 broad. It is either striped or plain, and is
worn equally by both sexes, usually as an outer covering; but
it is often the only garment of the poorer classes. By women the
“haik” is arranged to cover the head and, in the presence of
men, is held so as to conceal the face. A thin “haik” of silk,
like a veil, is used by brides at their marriage.
HAIL (O. Eng. hægl and hagol,[1] cf. the cognate Teutonic hagel,
as in German, Dutch, Swedish, &c.; the Gr. κάχληξ, pebble, is
probably allied), the name for rounded masses or single pellets of
ice falling from the clouds in a shower. True hail has a concentric
structure caused by the frozen particles of moisture first
descending into a warm cloud, whence they are carried upwards
on an ascending current of heated air into a cold stratum where
the fresh coating of water vapour deposited in the cloud is frozen.
The hailstone descends again, receives a fresh coating, is carried
up once more, refrozen, and again descends. Thus the hailstone
grows until the current is no longer strong enough to support it
when it falls to the ground. At times masses of hail are frozen
together, and a very sudden cooling will sometimes result in
the formation of ragged masses of ice that fall with disastrous
results. Hail must be distinguished from the frozen snow,
“soft-hail” or “graupel,” that often falls at the rear of a spring
cyclone, since true hail is almost entirely a summer phenomenon,
and falls most frequently in thunderstorms which are produced
under the conditions that are favourable to the formation of
hail, i.e. great heat, a still atmosphere, the production of strong
local convection currents in consequence, and the passage of
a cold upper drift.
HAILES, DAVID DALRYMPLE, Lord (1726–1792), Scottish lawyer and historian, was born at Edinburgh on the 28th of October 1726. His father, Sir James Dalrymple, Bart., of Hailes, in the county of Haddington, auditor-general of the exchequer of Scotland, was a grandson of James, first Viscount Stair; and his mother, Lady Christian Hamilton, was a daughter of Thomas, 6th earl of Haddington. David was the eldest of sixteen children. He was educated at Eton, and studied law at Utrecht, being intended for the Scottish bar, to which he was admitted shortly after his return to Scotland in 1748. As a pleader he attained neither high distinction nor very extensive practice, but he rapidly established a well-deserved reputation for sound knowledge, unwearied application and strict probity; and in 1766 he was elevated to the bench, when he assumed the title of Lord Hailes. Ten years later he was appointed a lord of justiciary. He died on the 29th of November 1792. He was twice married, and had a daughter by each wife. The baronetcy to which he had succeeded passed to the son of his brother John, provost of Edinburgh. Another brother was Alexander Dalrymple (1737–1808), the first admiralty hydrographer, who distinguished himself in the East India Company’s service and as a geographer. Lord Hailes’s younger daughter married Sir
- ↑ “Hail,” a call of greeting or salutation, a shout to attract attention, must, of course, be distinguished. This word represents the Old Norwegian heill, prosperity, cognate with O. Eng. hāl, whence “hale,” “whole,” and hæl, whence “health,” “heal.”
