on the “force of the blood” in various animals, its rate of flow, the capacity of the different vessels, &c., entitles him to be regarded as one of the originators of experimental physiology. But he did not confine his attention to abstract inquiries. The quest of a solvent for calculus in the bladder and kidneys was pursued by him as by others at the period, and he devised a form of forceps which, on the testimony of John Ranby (1703–1773), sergeant-surgeon to George II., extracted stones with “great ease and readiness.” His observations of the evil effect of vitiated air caused him to devise a “ventilator” (a modified organ-bellows) by which fresh air could be conveyed into gaols, hospitals, ships’-holds, &c.; this apparatus was successful in reducing the mortality in the Savoy prison, and it was introduced into France by the aid of H. L. Duhamel du Monceau. Among other things Hales invented a “sea-gauge” for sounding, and processes for distilling fresh from sea water, for preserving corn from weevils by fumigation with brimstone, and for salting animals whole by passing brine into their arteries. His Admonition to the Drinkers of Gin, Brandy, &c., published anonymously in 1734, has been several times reprinted.
HALESOWEN, a market town in the Oldbury parliamentary
division of Worcestershire, England, on a branch line of the
Great Western and Midland railways, 612 m. W.S.W. of Birmingham.
Pop. (1901), 4057. It lies in a pleasant country among
the eastern foothills of the Lickey Hills. There are extensive
iron and steel manufactures. The church of SS Mary and John
the Baptist has rude Norman portions; and the poet William
Shenstone, buried in 1763 in the churchyard, has a memorial
in the church. His delight in landscape gardening is exemplified
in the neighbouring estate of the Leasowes, which was his
property. There is a grammar school founded in 1652, and in
the neighbourhood is the Methodist foundation of Bourne
College (1883). Close to the town, on the river Stour, which
rises in the vicinity, are slight ruins of a Premonstratensian abbey
of Early English date. Within the parish and 2 m. N.W. of
Halesowen is Cradley, with iron and steel works, fire-clay works
and a large nail and chain industry.
HALEVI, JUDAH BEN SAMUEL (c. 1085–c. 1140), the greatest
Hebrew poet of the middle ages, was born in Toledo c. 1085,
and died in Palestine after 1140. In his youth he wrote Hebrew
love poems of exquisite fancy, and several of his Wedding Odes
are included in the liturgy of the Synagogue. The mystical
connexion between marital affection and the love of God had,
in the view of older exegesis, already expressed itself in the
scriptural Song of Songs and Judah Halevi used this book as his
model. In this aspect of his work he found inspiration also in
Arabic predecessors. The second period of his literary career
was devoted to more serious pursuits. He wrote a philosophical
dialogue in five books, called the Cuzari, which has been translated
into English by Hirschfeld. This book bases itself on the
historical fact that the Crimean Kingdom of the Khazars adopted
Judaism, and the Hebrew poet-philosopher describes what he
conceives to be the steps by which the Khazar king satisfied
himself as to the claims of Judaism. Like many other medieval
Jewish authors, Judah Halevi was a physician. His real fame
depends on his liturgical hymns, which are the finest written in
Hebrew since the Psalter, and are extensively used in the
Septardic rite. A striking feature of his thought was his devotion
to Jerusalem. To the love of the Holy City he devoted his
noblest genius, and he wrote some memorable Odes to Zion, which
have been commemorated by Heine, and doubly appreciated
recently under the impulse of Zionism (q.v.). He started for
Jerusalem, was in Damascus in 1140, and soon afterwards died.
Legend has it that he was slain by an Arab horseman just as he
arrived within sight of what Heine called his “Woebegone poor
darling, Desolation’s very image,—Jerusalem.”
Excellent English renderings of some of Judah Halevi’s poems may be read in Mrs H. Lucas’s The Jewish Year, and Mrs R. N. Solomon’s Songs of Exile. (I. A.)
HALÉVY, JACQUES FRANÇOIS FROMENTAL ÉLIE (1799–1862),
French composer, was born on the 27th of May 1799, at
Paris, of a Jewish family. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire
under Berton and Cherubini, and in 1819 gained the grand prix
de Rome with his cantata Herminie. In accordance with the
conditions of his scholarship he started for Rome, where he
devoted himself to the study of Italian music, and wrote an
opera and various minor works. In 1827 his opera L’Artisan was
performed at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris, apparently without
much success. Other works of minor importance, and now
forgotten, followed, amongst which Manon Lescaut, a ballet,
produced in 1830, deserves mention. In 1834 the Opéra-Comique
produced Ludovic, the score of which had been begun by Hérold
and had been completed by Halévy. In 1835 Halévy composed
the tragic opera La Juive and the comic opera L’Éclair, and on
these works his fame is mainly founded. The famous air of
Eléazar and the anathema of the cardinal in La Juive soon became
popular all over France. L’Éclair is a curiosity of musical
literature. It is written for two tenors and two soprani, without
a chorus, and displays the composer’s mastery over the most
refined effects of instrumentation and vocalization in a favourable
light. After these two works he wrote numerous operas of
various genres, amongst which only La Reine de Chypre, a
spectacular piece analyzed by Wagner in one of his Paris letters
(1841), and La Tempesta, in three acts, written for Her Majesty’s
theatre, London (1850), need be mentioned. In addition to his
productive work Halévy also rendered valuable services as a
teacher. He was professor at the Conservatoire from 1827 till
his death—some of the most successful amongst the younger
composers in France, such as Gounod, Victor Massé and Georges
Bizet, the author of Carmen, being amongst his pupils. He was
maestro al cembalo at the Théâtre Italien from 1827 to 1829;
then director of singing at the Opera House in Paris until 1845,
and in 1836 he succeeded Reicha at the Institut de France.
Halévy also tried his hand at literature. In 1857 he became
permanent secretary to the Académie des Beaux Arts, and there
exists an agreeable volume of Souvenirs et portraits from his pen.
He died at Nice, on the 17th of March 1862.
HALÉVY, LUDOVIC (1834–1908), French author, was born
in Paris on the 1st of January 1834. His father, Léon Halévy
(1802–1883), was a clever and versatile writer, who tried almost
every branch of literature—prose and verse, vaudeville, drama,
history—without, however, achieving decisive success in any.
His uncle, J. F. Fromental E. Halévy (q.v.), was for many years
associated with the opéra; hence the double and early connexion
of Ludovic Halévy with the Parisian stage. At the age of six
he might have been seen playing in that Foyer de la danse with
which he was to make his readers so familiar, and, when a boy
of twelve, he would often, of a Sunday night, on his way back
to the College Louis le Grand, look in at the Odéon, where he
had free admittance, and see the first act of the new play. At
eighteen he joined the ranks of the French administration and
occupied various posts, the last being that of secrétaire-rédacteur
to the Corps Législatif. In that capacity he enjoyed the special
favour and friendship of the famous duke of Morny, then president
of that assembly. In 1865 Ludovic Halévy’s increasing
popularity as an author enabled him to retire from the public
service. Ten years earlier he had become acquainted with the
musician Offenbach, who was about to start a small theatre of
his own in the Champs Élysées, and he wrote a sort of prologue,
Entrez, messieurs, mesdames, for the opening night. Other little
productions followed, Ba-ta-clan being the most noticeable
among them. They were produced under the pseudonym of
Jules Servières. The name of Ludovic Halévy appeared for the
first time on the bills on the 1st of January 1856. Soon afterwards
the unprecedented run of Orphée aux enfers, a musical
parody, written in collaboration with Hector Crémieux, made
his name famous. In the spring of 1860 he was commissioned
to write a play for the manager of the Variétés in conjunction
with another vaudevillist, Lambert Thiboust. The latter having
abruptly retired from the collaboration, Halévy was at a loss
how to carry out the contract, when on the steps of the theatre
he met Henri Meilhac (1831–1897), then comparatively a stranger
to him. He proposed to Meilhac the task rejected by Lambert
Thiboust, and the proposal was immediately accepted. Thus
