HELM. 7-t3 HELMET. are assistants. lu men-of-war a quartermaster is in cliarge of tlie steerinj?; he keeps watch of the eourse, sees that the lieluismaii steers cor- rectly, and tends to other matters, such as read- ing the barometer, thermometer, and hygrometer, and lining in the columns of the log every hour (if there is no junior ollicer). HELM, helm, Israel (c.U!ir>-c.lG!)5). A Swedish colonist in America. I'robahly a soldier in Sweden, he was one of the earliest settlers on the Delaware; lived at Passyunk (now Phila- delphia), where he was collector of customs (1050); in 1(308 became a member of Captain Carr's council, and was one of the number who received a grant of Calken Hook in the same year; and. about 1074, was justice 'for the river' and probably a member of the earlier Upland Court. Helm did much service as interjiretcr in conferences with the Indians, especially in 1075, in the meeting of the Xew .Jersey Indians, Governor Andros, and the Swedish authorities at New Castle. Del. He is possibly to be identified with Israel Holms, an old Swede, on whose authority Rudman tells of the end of Peter Minuit. HELMBOLD, hOlmljolt. LlDWlo (15.32-98). A German theologian and hymnologist. born at Jliihlhausen, Thuringia. and educated at Leipzig and Erfurt. At the latter university he taught (1554-80). but was finally forced out because of his bitter opposition to the Catholic members of the facultj-. He went back to Miihlhausen, and became superintendent of the town. He was a skillful Latin versifier, and besides Latin hymns wrote spiritual songs in the vernacular, which won him the name 'the German Asaph'; among these mention should be made of: T'on (tott will ich nicht lassen; Dti Friedefiirst, Herr Jesu Christ : and Es stehn ror Gotten Throne. For his biography, cmsult Thilo (Berlin, 1851). HEL'MER, Nora. The heroine of Ibsen's drama of modern life, A Doll's House. She is, at the opening of the play, a thoughtless super- ficial creature, who is alternately petted and scolded by her narrow-minded husband, and thus becomes wholly unfitted to face or even compre- hend life's realities. She impulsively commits a heinous crime, and only then discovers her own and her husband's actual natures. She escapes paying the legal penalty, but leaves her home with the determination to learn the truth regarding life, humanity, and herself. HELMEKS, hgl'mers. .Jan Frederik (1767- 181.3). A Dutch poet, born at Amsterdam, His first work, a tragedy, was moderately successful, and he followed it by a poem, Hocrntes (1790), But his patriotic verses, published in 1810, and The Dutch yation (1812), an heroic poem in si.x cantos, are what made his reputation. At a time when Holland was under French rule, these fiery patriotic poems revived the nation's enthirsiasni. A posthumous volume of his poetry appeared in 1815. HEL'MERSEN, GRfiooRT Petrovitcii (1803- 85). A Russian geologist, born at Duekershof. in the Government of Jjivonia. He was educated at Dorpat and various German universities, from 1838 to 1803 was professor of geognosy and geol- ogv in the school of the mining enTineer corps, and from 1805 to his retirement in 1872 director of the Minine Institute. He altained the mili- tarj' rank of lieutenant-general, and was a mem- ber of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1829 he accompanied Alexander von Humboldt in the exploration of the lower cour.>es of the rivers Volga and Ural. His chief published writ- ings were his contributions to the extensive seicntilic work on the Russian Em])ire and the adjacent Asian countries, published by the Saint Pctersliurg Academy of Sciences, under the editor- .■-hip of himself and ^'on Baer (20 vols., 1839-71). HEL'MERT, Fkiedricu Robert ( 1843— ) . A (.iermau geodcsist, born at Freiberg, Saxony. He was educated at the Polytecluiic of Dresden and Leipzig University, in 1809-70 was observer in llie Hamburg Observatory, and in 1870 became instructor in geodesy in the Teclinical College of Aix-la-Cliapelle. In 1880 he was appointed di- rector of the Royal Geodetic Institute of Prussia, and in 1887 professor of geodesy in Berlin Uni- versity. In addition to numerous contributions to the Astronomische yaclirichlm, the Z' ilsclirift fiir ^'t'nHessun()Slcesen, and other technical ]»ri- odicals, he published several volumes, including Die AusgleichiDiysrechniinii nach iler .Methode der kleiiisfen Quadrale (1872), and Die mathe- matisclien iind /j/n/.si/.o/i.sc/ieii Theorien dcr hiihcrn Heodiisie (1880-8'4). HELMET (diminutive of helm, Goth, hilms, OHG. lieliii, Ger. Ilelm, helmet; connected ulti- mately with Skt. sarman, protection. AS., OHG. helaii, Cxer. hehleii, Lat. celare, Gk. KaXwrreiv, kuhjptein, to hide, Olr. ccUiii, 1 hide). A cover- ing wholl_y, or in part, of metal, used in war- fare to protect the head. Such protections have been used from the earliest times, and have been made in many diflerent forms. The simplest form is in the shape of a close-fitting skull-cap. Such helmets are represented on the Assyrian monuments. They were of metal, and sometimes were provided with a defense for the neck. A tendency toward decoration is shown in some of the bas-reliefs, where warriors are represented with elevated helmets terminating in a point. The Greeks of the Homeric age are occasionally described as wearing very elaborate helmets. In the Iliad, Agamemnon places on his brow a lofty helm, four-crested, double-peaked, with horse- hair plumes. .t a later ])eriod the (ireeks used lielmets of dilTerent shapes, usuall.v with pro- tections for the faee and neck, and sometimes surmounted by figures of birds or animals. Many of these were richly decorated. The Etruscans wore bell-shaped helmets, which often had pro- jecting pieces like wings, which gave them a very peculiar appearance. The Romans ordinari- ly used a plain, undecorated skull-cap, strength- ened by cross-bands of iron, and with a neck- guard. On the march this helmet was removed and carried slung f^om the right .shoulder. Under the later Empire the Greek fa.shion of helmet became common. The . glo-Saxons ap- pear to have used a skull-cap with a figure of a boar on top. The Franks, on the contrary, used no protection for the head. But under Charles the Great the Imperial household guards wore helmets of a triangular shape, surmounted bv conventionalized scrollwork or foliage. In the Bayeux tapestrv the warriors wear conical helmets, with a straight piece descending in front to protect the nose. The most characteristic helmet of the Afiddle .Ages, which was in vogue from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, was cvlindriciil in form ami covered the head and a part of the neck. There were round openings
