602 BECKER tal failure ; Hecker and Struve were beaten at Kandern ; Freiburg, which the insurrectionists had occupied, was retaken by the government troops ; and a legion of German volunteers from France, led by Herwegh, was dispersed at Dossenbach. Hecker fled into Switzerland, where he established the Volksfreund. In September he emigrated to America, but was recalled by the provisional government of Ba- den in 1849. In July he arrived in Strasburg, but, finding that the revolutionary party had been completely defeated, returned to the United States, where he became a farmer in Belleville, 111. He commanded a regiment during the civil war, was wounded at Chancel- lorsville, and retired to his farm soon after the battle of Chattanooga. HECKER, Isaac Thomas, an American cler- gyman, born in New York, Dec. 18, 1819. He became connected in 1843 with the Brook Farm association at West Roxbury, Mass., and sub- sequently spent some time with the " conso- ciate family" at Fruit- lands, in Worcester co., Mass. In 1845 he was received into the Ro- man Catholic church, and in 1847 became a member of the congre- gation of the Most Holy Redeemer. He was or- dained priest in London in 1849, and after two years of missionary la- bor in England he re- turned to New York. In 1857 he and several of his brother Redemp- torists were released from obedience to their order, and founded, with the approbation of the archbishop of New York, a missionary so- ciety since known as the congregation of St. Paul the Apostle (commonly called Paulists), having its first house in New York city. In 1865 Father Hecker established the "Catho- lic World," a monthly magazine. In 1869 he was present at the Vatican council as procu- rator of Bishop Rosecrans, of Columbus, O. In 1873, on account of ill health, he travelled in Europe and the East. He is the author of "Questions of the Soul" (12mo, New York, 1855) and "Aspirations of Nature " (1857). HECKEWELDER, John, a Moravian missionary, born in Bedford, England, March 12, 1743, died in Bethlehem, Pa., Jan. 21, 1823. At the age of 12 he came with his father to Pennsylvania. He accompanied Mr. Post in 1762 in his ex- pedition to the Indian tribes on the Ohio, and in 1771 took up his residence among them as a missionary. After 40 years of missionary service, he went to Bethlehem, the principal establishment of the Moravians in America, HECLA and there remained till his death. He wrote several memoirs on the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, the principal one being published in the "Transactions" of the philosophical soci- ety of Pennsylvania (1819). See Rondthaler's "Life of Heckewelder" (Philadelphia, 1847). HECLA, or Hekla, a volcanic mountain of Ice- land, situated in the southwestern part of the island, in the district of Rangarvalla, 40 m. from the coast. Hecla rises to the height of 5,104 ft., to the eastward of a large and com- paratively fertile plain intersected by the rivers Hvita and Thjorsa. Its approach is over vast lava beds lying irregularly one above the other. The peak or cone itself surmounts a long pala- gonite ridge 2,000 ft. high, running N. E. and 8. W., and forming in reality a single volcanic fissure along which the points of eruption are continually changing. It is the middle one of five main ridges composing the Hecla system, all Mount Hecla. dominated by the conical crest of the volcano. This is built up with scoriae, slag, and ashes, kept together by the streams of lava. Though above the snow limit (in Iceland from 2,000 to 2,500 ft. above the sea), it is not entirely covered with snow in summer. Down the western side slopes a snow fond of consider- able dimensions. The top of the mountain is nearly flat, forming a broad table a quarter of a mile long by 50 rods across. The ground feels warm ; on digging to the depth of six inches smoke bursts forth, and smoking heaps of lava are scattered over the surface. There are five craters on the peak, four of them on its side. The highest, on the summit, has been quiescent for ages. It is an irregular chasm about a quarter of a mile long, 300 ft. wide, and 250 ft. deep. The bottom is covered with vol- canic sand, moist earth, and in some places with snow ; but from many fissures on its sides issue smoke and hot steam. The recent craters are filled with black smoke, red scoriae, and sulphur.
