HOLMES 38 HOLT Physiology in Dartmouth College, N. H., but resigned to devote himself to prac- tice in Boston. In 1847 he was ap- pointed to the chair of anatomy at Har- vard. He wrote voluminously both in prose and verse. His chief works, be- sides several volumes of poems and treatises on medicine, are: "The Auto- crat of the Breakfast Table"; "The Pro- fessor at the Breakfast Table"; and "The Poet at the Breakfast Table"; "Elsie Venner"; "The Guardian Angel"; "A Mortal Antipathy" ; and memoirs of Mot- ley and Emerson. He died Oct. 7, 1894. HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL, JR., an American jurist; son of Dr. Oliver W. Holmes; born in Boston, Mass., March 8, 1841; was graduated at Har- vard College in 1861; served three years in Massachusetts Volunteers^ in the Civil War, being wounded three times, at An- tietam, Marye's Hill, and Fredericks- burg; practiced in Boston, Mass.; be- came Professor of Law in Harvard Law School, 1882; associate justice of Massa- chusetts Supreme Court, 1882-1899; chief-justice, Aug. 2, 1899; Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, 1902; wrote "The Common Law" (1881) ; "Speeches"; etc.; and edited "Kent's Commentaries." HOLM OAK, Quercus Ilex, a shrub- like tree, native of the Mediterranean countries, with holly-like leaves. _ In its native countries it attains a considerable size and age, but in Great Britain it forms an ornamental evergreen bush of from 20 to 30 feet high, seldom be- coming single-stemmed. HOLOCAINE, p-diethoxy-diphenyl- ethenyl-amidine, a synthetic drug, used in eye practice, as a local anaesthetic. Sometimes known as Plienacaine. HOLOCAUST (hol'o-cast), a sacrifice, the whole of which was consumed by fire, nothing being retained; such sac- rifices were practiced by the Jews. The word is now sometimes applied to a gen- eral sacrifice of life or slaughter. HOLOGRAPH, any writing, as a let- ter, deed, or will, wholly written by the person from whom it bears to proceed. In Scots law a holograph deed is valid without the signatures of witnesses, but in English law every deed, whether holo- graph or not, must have the names of two witnesses attached to it to render it valid. HOLOPTYCHIUS (hol-op-tik'e-us) , an extinct genus of ganoid fishes from Devonian and Carboniferous strata, type of a family the members of which are remarkable for their sculptured or wrinkled scales and extraordinary laby- rinthine tooth structure. HOLST, HERMANN EDUARD VON, a German- American historian; born in Fellin, Livonia, Russia, June 19, 1841. Coming to the United States in 1866, he engaged in literary work and lectur- ing; he returned to Europe, becoming professor in the universities of Strass- burg (1872) and Freiburg (1874); ap- pointed professor in the University of Chicago (1892). He has written: "Con- stitutional and Political History of the United States"; "Lives" of John C. Cal- houn and John Brown; "Constitutional Law of the United States"; "The French Revolution Tested by Mirabeau's Ca- reer"; etc. He died Jan. 20, 1904. HOLSTEIN (hol'stin), a duchy of Germany, formerly belonging to Den- mark, and now an appanage of the king- dom of Prussia. By decree of Jan. 1, 1869, the duchy of Holstein was united to the duchy of Schleswig, to form the province of Schleswig-Holstein. By the terms of the Peace Treaty of 1919 Den- mark regained, through a plebiscite, that noi'thern part of Schleswig-Holstein principally inhabitated by Danes. HOLSTEIN, a princely German fam- ily, which includes the royal line of Denmark, the collateral branches of Holstein-So nderburg- Augustenburg, and the ducal race of Holstein-Gottorp. HOLSTON, a river which rises in / Wythe CO., Va., and flowing a tortuous S. W. course through Smythe and Washington counties, enters Tennessee between Hawkins and Powell counties. [ Thence traversing Granger, Jefferson, and Knox counties, it unites with the Clinch river at Kingston in Roane co., to form the Tennessee river; length, about 200 miles. HOLT, HAMILTON, an American editor; born in Brooklyn, in 1872. He graduated from Yale University in 1894. He took post-graduate courses at Colum- bia. From 1897 to 1913 he was manag- ing editor of the "Independent" and was editor and owner of that publica- tion after 1913. He lectured much on economic subjects in the United States and in foreign countries. He was spe- cial lecturer of the World Peace Founda- tion and was Bromley lecturer on jour- nalism at Yale University in 1917. His published writings include "Undistin- guished Americans" (1906) ; and "Com- mercialism and Journalism" (1909). HOLT, HENRY, an American author and publisher; born in Baltimore in 1840. He graduated from Yale University in
