HELMSTEDT the realm of spirits than to the earth. As all diseases were in his opinion caused by the ar- chfflus, his treatment consisted in calming it, relying upon dietetics and the imagination of his patients. Mercurials, antimonials, opium, and wine he believed to be agreeable to the archaaus. His preference for chemical reme- dies raised chemistry to a higher rank in the jpinion of the medical men of his time. On rant of the extraordinary cures that he was >elieved to have made, he is said to have been rrested as a sorcerer. The most important )f his works is his Ortus Medicince, id est Ini- Physicm inaudita, Progressus Medicines no- ins in Morborum ultionem ad Vitam longam, rhich was published by Ms son four years jr his death, and translated into Dutch, mch, German, and English. A volume of islations of some of his works was pub- shed by W. Charlton in 1650, entitled "The Ternary of Paradoxes," " The Magnetic Cure of founds," "The Nativity of Tartar of Wine," id " The Image of God in Man." HELMSTEDT, or Helmstadt, a town of Ger- r, in the duchy and 21 m. E. of the city of runswick ; pop. in 1871, 7,469. It contains ive squares, two churches, a town house, a rmnasium, several schools, and three hospi- tals. The university of Helmstedt was founded in 1575 by Duke Julius of Brunswick, and for some time held a high rank among the schools of Germany, but was abolished in 1809. The chief manufactures are flannel, hats, soap, vin- egar, and liqueurs. There is a trade in cattle. HELMPND, or Helmend, a river of Afghanis- tan, which rises between two ridges belonging to the offshots of the Hindoo Koosh, 35 m. W. of Cabool, upward of 10,000 ft. above the sea. After flowing S. W. for the greater part of its course, it gradually sweeps round to the north- west and west, enters the plain of Seistan, and flows by several branches into the lake of Ha- moon, or Zurrah. Its entire length is about 650 m. Its principal affluent is the united stream of the Urgundab and Turnuk, from the east. Even in dry seasons the Helmund has a consjderable volume of water. HELOiSE, abbess of the Paraclete, born prob- ably in Paris in 1101, died at the convent of the Paraclete, Champagne, May 16, 1164. Of her parentage nothing is certainly known. In 1116 she was living with her uncle Fulbert, canon of Notre Dame, on the island of the Cite in Paris. At this time Pierre Abelard was at the height of his renown as a teacher, and Fulbert invited him to complete the edu- cation of his niece. The teacher and pupil fell in love with each other, and Abelard was compelled to conceal their guilt by conducting his pupil to the home of his parents in Brit- tany, where she became the mother of a son, who was christened Pierre Astrolabe. (See ABELARD.) To appease Fulbert, they were married, and at once separated ; but to avoid hindering Abelard's ecclesiastical advancement, T I61oise denied the marriage, and was then HELOTS 625 obliged to fly from her enraged uncle. Abe- lard placed her in the convent of Argenteuil, where she took the vows, and soon became abbess. Here she remained for nine or ten years, until a decree of the king, confirmed by the pope, alienated the property of this among other convents, and compelled the nuns to find a retreat elsewhere. The vacant oratory of the Paraclete in Champagne was formally made over to them by Abelard, at that time abbot of a monastery in Brittany, and Heloise became the first of a long line of noble ab- besses. Some years later a papal bull con- firmed the gift. The rule adopted by the new convent was that of St. Benedict ; but Abelard became the spiritual adviser and the father confessor of his friend, and added some statutes of his own to the ancient rule. Only one per- sonal interview was held; but a correspon- dence arose which was continued for several years. Abelard died in 1142. Heloise lived 22 years longer, devoting herself wholly to the enlargement and the discipline of her re- ligious house. She was universally regarded as a saint, and gifts of every kind were brought to her convent. Her remains, after many re- movals, have rested since 1817 with those of her husband in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise in Paris. The letters of Heloise and Abelard have been many times published. The most complete edition of the originals is by Victor Cousin (4to, Paris, 1849). They form a unique monument of the middle ages, and the internal evidence of their authenticity is so strong as to set aside the supposition of their forgery. The letters of Heloise especially are called by Hal- lam " the first book that gives any pleasure in reading produced in Europe for 600 years, since Boethius's ' Consolations.' " Besides the works mentioned under ABLARD, see ISHis- toire d" 1 Heloise et d> Abelard, by Marc de Mon- tifaud (Paris, 1873). 1IELOS, a town of ancient Greece, in the ter- ritory of Laconia, situated in a fertile plain near the Eurotas and the sea. Its foundation was ascribed to Helius, the youngest of the sons of Perseus, and in very early times it ap- pears to have been the principal town of that region. On being taken by the Dorians, its inhabitants, as a punishment for the obstinacy of their resistance, were reduced to slavery, and their name, according to some writers, became in time the general designation of the Spartan bondmen. In the age of Strabo Helos had dwindled into a small village, and in that of Pausanias it was a heap of ruins. Its site was probably near Bizani, where there are some Hellenic remains. Helos at the present day is the name of a district in the plains on the banks of the Eurotas, extending from the mountain of Bizani to the frontier of Maina. Most of the villages of the district are on the low hills which encircle the plain. HELOTS (Gr. Mwref), slaves of the Spar- tans, serfs bound to the soil, and tilling it for the benefit of the proprietors. The three
