a huge stadium for athletic displays. In the extreme north of the borough is the Kensal Green Roman Catholic cemetery, in which Cardinal Manning and many other prominent members of this faith are buried. In the neighbourhood of the Mall, bordering the river, are the house where Thomson wrote his poem “The Seasons,” and Kelmscott House, the residence of William Morris. The parliamentary borough of Hammersmith returns one member. The borough council consists of a mayor, 5 aldermen, and 30 councillors. Area, 2286.3 acres.
HAMMER-THROWING, a branch of field athletics which
consists of hurling to the greatest possible distance an instrument
with a heavy head and slender handle called the hammer.
Throwing the hammer is in all probability of Keltic origin, as
it has been popular in Ireland and Scotland for many centuries.
The missile was, however, not a hammer, but the wheel of a
chariot attached to a fixed axle, by which it was whirled round
the head and cast for distance. Such a sport was undoubtedly
cultivated in the old Irish games, a large stone being substituted
for the wheel at the beginning of the Christian era. In the
Scottish highlands the missile took the form of a smith’s sledgehammer,
and in this form the sport became popular in England
in early days. Edward II. is said to have fostered it, and Henry
VIII. is known to have been proficient. At the beginning of
the 19th century two standard hammers were generally recognized
in Scotland, the heavy hammer, weighing about 21 ℔, and the
light hammer, weighing about 16 ℔. These were in general
use until about 1885, although the light hammer gradually
attained popularity at the expense of the heavy. Although
originally an ordinary blacksmith’s sledge with a handle about
3 ft. long, the form of the head was gradually modified until it
acquired its present spherical shape, and the stiff wooden handle
gave place to one of flexible whalebone about 38 in. in diameter.
The Scottish style of throwing, which also obtained in America,
was to stand on a mark, swing the hammer round the head
several times and hurl it backwards over the shoulder, the
length being measured from the mark made by the falling hammer
to the nearest foot of the thrower, no run or follow being allowed.
Such men as Donald Dinnie, G. Davidson and Kenneth McRae
threw the light hammer over 110 ft., and Dinnie’s record was
132 ft. 8 in., made, however, from a raised mount. Meanwhile
the English Amateur Athletic Association had early fixed the
weight of the hammer at 16 ℔, but the length of the handle
and the run varied widely, the restrictions being few. Under
these conditions S. S. Brown, of Oxford, made in 1873 a throw
of 120 ft., which was considered extraordinary at the time.
In 1875 the throw was made from a 7-ft. circle without run, head
and handle of the missile weighing together exactly 16 ℔. In
1887 the circle was enlarged to 9 ft., and in 1896 a handle of
flexible metal was legalized. The throw was made after a few
rapid revolutions of the body, which added an impetus that
greatly added to the distance attained. It thus happened that
the Scottish competitors at the English games, who clung to
their standing style of throwing, were, although athletes of
the very first class, repeatedly beaten; the result being that
the Scottish association was forced to introduce the English
rules. This was also the case in America, where the throw
from the 7-ft. circle, any motions being allowed within it, was
adopted in 1888, and still obtains. The Americans still further
modified the handle, which now consists of steel wire with two
skeleton loops for the hands, the wire being joined to the head by
means of a ball-bearing swivel. Thus the greatest mechanical
advantage, that of having the entire weight of the missile at the
end, as well as the least friction, is obtained. In England the
Amateur Athletic Association in 1908 enacted that “the head
and handle may be of any size, shape and material, provided
that the complete implement shall not be more than 4 ft. and its
weight not less than 16 ℔. The competitor may assume any
position he chooses, and use either one or both hands. All
throws shall be made from a circle 7 ft. in diameter.” The
modern hammer-thrower, if right-handed, begins by placing
the head on the ground at his right side. He then lifts and
swings it round his head with increasing rapidity, his whole
body finally revolving with outstretched arms twice, in some
cases three times, as rapidly as possible, the hammer being
released in the desired direction. During the “spinning,” or
revolving of the body, the athlete must be constantly, “ahead of
the hammer,” i.e. he must be drawing it after him with continually
increased pressure up to the very moment of delivery. The
muscles chiefly called into play are those of the shoulders, back
and loins. The adoption of the hand-loops has given the thrower
greater control over the hammer and has thus rendered the
sport much less dangerous than it once was.
With a wooden handle the longest throw made in Great Britain from a 9-ft. circle was that of W. J. M. Barry in 1892, who won the championship in that year with 133 ft. 3 in. With the flexible handle, “unlimited run and follow” being permitted, the record was held in 1909 by M. J. McGrath with 175 ft. 8 in., made in 1907; a Scottish amateur, T. R. Nicholson, held the British record of 169 ft. 8 in. The world’s record for throw from a 7-ft. circle was 172 ft. 11 in. by J. Flanagan in 1904 in America; the British record from 9-ft. circle being also held by Flanagan with a throw of 163 ft. 1 in. made in 1900. Flanagan’s Olympic record (London, 1908) was 170 ft. 414 in.
See Athletics in the Badminton library; Athletes’ Guide in Spalding’s Athletic library; “Hammer-Throwing” in vol. xx. of Outing.
HAMMER-TOE, a painful condition in which a toe is rigidly
bent and the salient angle on its upper aspect is constantly
irritated by the boot. It is treated surgically, not as formerly
by amputation of the toe, but the toe is made permanently to
lie flat by the simple excision of the small digital joint. Even
in extremely bad cases of hammer-toe the operation of resection
of the head of the metatarsal phalanx is to be recommended
rather than amputation.
HAMMOCK, a bed or couch slung from each end. The word
is said to have been derived from the hamack tree, the bark of
which was used by the aboriginal natives of Brazil to form the
nets, suspended from trees, in which they slept. The hammock
may be of matting, skin or textiles, lined with cushions or filled
with bedding. It is much used in hot climates.
HAMMOND, HENRY (1605–1660), English divine, was born at
Chertsey in Surrey on the 18th of August 1605. He was educated
at Eton and at Magdalen College, Oxford, becoming demy
or scholar in 1619, and fellow in 1625. He took orders in 1629,
and in 1633 in preaching before the court so won the approval
of the earl of Leicester that he presented him to the living of
Penshurst in Kent. In 1643 he was made archdeacon of Chichester.
He was a member of the convocation of 1640, and
was nominated one of the Westminster Assembly of divines.
Instead of sitting at Westminster he took part in the unsuccessful
rising at Tunbridge in favour of King Charles I., and was obliged
to flee in disguise to Oxford, then the royal headquarters.
There he spent much of his time in writing, though he accompanied
the king’s commissioners to London, and afterwards
to the ineffectual convention at Uxbridge in 1645, where he
disputed with Richard Vines, one of the parliamentary envoys.
In his absence he was appointed canon of Christ Church and
public orator of the university. These dignities he relinquished
for a time in order to attend the king as chaplain during his
captivity in the hands of the parliament. When Charles was
deprived of all his loyal attendants at Christmas 1647, Hammond
returned to Oxford and was made subdean of Christ Church,
only, however, to be removed from all his offices by the parliamentary
visitors, who imprisoned him for ten weeks. Afterwards
he was permitted, though still under quasi-confinement,
to retire to the house of Philip Warwick at Clapham in Bedfordshire.
In 1650, having regained his full liberty, Hammond
betook himself to the friendly mansion of Sir John Pakington,
at Westwood, in Worcestershire, where he died on the 25th of
April 1660, just on the eve of his preferment to the see of
Worcester. Hammond was held in high esteem even by his
opponents. He was handsome in person and benevolent in
disposition. He was an excellent preacher; Charles I. pronounced
him the most natural orator he had ever heard. His
range of reading was extensive, and he was a most diligent
scholar and writer.
His writings, published in 4 vols. fol. (1674–1684), consist for the most part of controversial sermons and tracts. The Anglo-Catholic
