a devoted friend of Hahnemann. In 1828 Dr Count Sebastian de
Guidi came from Lyons and assisted in spreading the doctrine.
During the period from 1830 to 1860 many physicians practised
homoeopathy, and the literature on the subject became extensive.
A homoeopathic clinic was established and a ward opened in Trinity
Hospital at Naples, and a homoeopathic physician was appointed
to the count of Syracuse. During the severe cholera epidemics of
1854, 1855, 1865 the success of homoeopathic treatment of that
disease was so marked under the care of Dr Rubini that the attention
of the authorities was directed to the system. In 1860 the homoeopathic
practice was introduced into the Spedale della Cesarea, and
since that period homoeopathy has been recognized with more or less
favour in most of the cities. The Italian Homoeopathic Institute
is recognized by royal warrant as an established institution, and its
regulations are approved by the government. In Turin the legal
seat of the Homoeopathic Institute, there is a hospital under the
management of the State Association. The homoeopathic medical
press consists of the Revista Omiopatica, established in 1855, and
L’Omiopatico in Italia, the organ of the Italian Homoeopathic
Institute, which first appeared in 1884.
Spain.—Homoeopathy was introduced into Spain in 1829 by a physician to the Royal Commission sent by the king of Naples to attend the marriage of Maria Christina with Don Ferdinand VII. Shortly after this, a merchant of Cadiz visited Hahnemann in Coethen, and was cured of a serious disorder; he returned to Spain with a supply of homoeopathic literature, and immediately sent a medical student to Leipzig to study the new system. In 1843 many cases of cholera were treated homoeopathically in Madrid. The civil war, which did not terminate until 1840, arrested all medical investigation in Spain, but in 1843 there still existed in Madrid five pharmacies and a number of homoeopathic physicians. About this time Dr Tosi Nuñez returned from an investigation of the new system with Hahnemann, and owing to his success in the treatment of disease was created one of the physicians of the bedchamber to the queen, who soon afterwards conferred upon him the title of marquis, with the grand crosses of the Charles III. and of the Civil Order of Beneficiencia. This recognition by high authority gave an impetus to homoeopathy which has continued ever since.
Denmark.—Homoeopathy was unknown in Denmark until the year 1821, when Hans Christian Lund, a medical practitioner, adopted it. Hahnemann, however, had been both before and after that time consulted by Danes, and consequently homoeopathic therapeutics was recognized in different parts of the country. Lund translated many of Hahnemann’s works into Danish, as well as those of other eminent members of the new school. (W. T. H.)
HOMONYM (Gr. ὁμώνομος, having the same name, from
ὅμος, same, alike, and ὄνομα, name), a term in philology for
those words which differ in sense but are alike either in sound
or spelling or both. Words alike only in spelling but not in sound,
e.g. “bow,” are sometimes called homographs; and words alike
only in sound but not in spelling, e.g. “meat,” “meet,” homophones.
Skeat (Etymol. Dict.) gives a list of English homonyms.
HOMS, or Hums (anc. Emesa or Emessa, near the Hittite
Kadesh), a town of Syria, on the right bank of the Orontes,
and capital of a sanjak in the vilayet of Syria (Damascus).
Pop. 30,000 (20,000 Moslem, 10,000 Christian). The importance
of the place arises from its command of the great north road
from Egypt, Palestine and Damascus by the Orontes valley.
Invading armies from the south have often been opposed near
Homs, from the time of Rameses II., who had to fight the
battle of Kadesh, to that of Ibrahim Pasha, who broke the first
line of Ottoman defence in 1831 by his victory there. Ancient
Emesa, in the district of Apamea, was a very old Syrian city,
devoted to the worship of Baal, the sun god, of whose great
temple the emperor Heliogabalus was originally a priest (A.D.
218). As a centre of native influences it was overawed by the
Seleucid foundation of Apamea; but it opposed the Roman
advance. There Aurelian crushed, in A.D. 272, the Syrian
national movement led by Zenobia. Caracalla made it a Roman
colony, and later it became the capital of a small province,
Phoenicia Libanesia or ad Libanum. About 630 it was captured
by the Moslem leader, Khalid ibn Walid, who is buried there.
It now became the capital of a jund, or military district, which
under the Omayyad Caliphs extended from Palmyra to the
sea. Under the Arabs it was one of the largest cities in Syria,
with walls and a strong citadel, which stood on a hill, occupying
perhaps the site of the great sun temple. The ruins of this
castle, blown up by Ibrahim Pasha, are still the most conspicuous
feature of Homs, and contain many remains of ancient
buildings. Its men were noted for their courage in war, and its
women for their beauty. The climate was extolled for its
excellence, and the land for its fertility. A succession of gardens
bordered the Orontes, and the vineyards were remarkable for
their abundant yield of grapes. When the place capitulated
the great church of St John was divided between the Christians
and Moslems, an arrangement which apparently lasted until
the arrival of the Turks. At the end of the 11th century it
fell into crusading hands, but was recovered by the Moslems
under Saladin in 1187. Its decay probably dates from the
invasion of the Mongols (1260), who fought two important
battles with the Egyptians (1281 and 1299) in its vicinity. The
construction of a carriage road to Tripoli led to a partial revival
of prosperity and to an export of cereals and fruit, and this
growth has, in turn, been accentuated by the railway, which now
connects it with Aleppo and the Damascus-Beirut line. The
district is well planted with mulberries and produces much silk,
most of which is worked up on the spot. (D. G. H.)
HO-NAN, a central province of China, bounded N. partly
by the Hwang-ho (which it crosses to the west of Ho-nan Fu,
forming an arm northwards between the provinces of Shan-si
and Chih-li), on the W. by Shen-si, on the S. by Hu-peh, and
on the E. by Ngan-hui. It occupies an area of 81,000 sq. m.,
with a population of about 22,100,000, and contains nine
prefectural cities. Its capital is K’ai-fêng Fu. The prefecture
of Hwai-k’ing, north of the Hwang-ho, consists of a fertile plain,
“rendered park-like by numerous plantations of trees and
shrubs, among which thick bosquets of bamboo contrast with
the gloomy groves of cypress.” All kinds of cereals grow
luxuriantly, and the general productiveness of the district
is indicated by the extreme denseness of the population. The
most noticeable feature in that portion of the province which
is properly called Ho-nan is the Fu-niu Shan range, which runs
east and west across this part of the province. Coal is found on
the south of the Hwang-ho in the districts of Ho-nan Fu, the
ancient capital, Lushan and Ju Chow. The chief products
of the province are, however, agricultural, especially in the
valley of the Tang-ho and Pai-ho, which is an extensive and
densely populated plain running north and south from the
Fu-niu Shan. Cotton is also grown extensively and forms
the principal article of export, and a considerable quantity
of wild silk is produced from the Fu-niu Shan. Three roads
from the east and south unite at Ho-nan Fu, and one from the
west. The southern road leads to Ju Chow, where it forks,
one branch going to Shi-ki-chên, connecting the trade from
Fan-cheng, Han-kow, and the Han river generally, and the other
to Chow-kia-k’ow near the city of Ch’ên-chow Fu, at the confluence
of the three rivers which unite to form the Sha-ho; the
second road runs parallel with the Hwang-ho to K’ai-fêng Fu;
the third crosses the Hwang-ho at Mêngching Hien, and passes
thence in a north-easterly direction to Hwai-k’ing Fu, Sew-wu
Hien and Wei-hui Fu, at which place it joins the high road
from Peking to Fan-cheng; and the western road follows the
southern bank of the Hwang-ho for 250 m. to its great bend
at the fortified pass known as the Tung-kwan, where it joins the
great wagon road leading through Shan-si from Peking to Si-gan
Fu. Ho-nan is now traversed north to south by the Peking-Hankow
railway (completed 1905). The line crosses the Hwang-ho
by Yung-tse and runs east of the Fu-niu Shan. Branch lines
serve Ho-nan Fu and K’ai-fêng Fu.
HONAVAR, or Onore, a seaport of British India, in the
North Kanara district of Bombay. Pop. (1901) 6929. It is
mentioned as a place of trade as early as the 16th century, and
is associated with two interesting incidents in Anglo-Indian
history. In 1670, the English factors here had a bull-dog
which unfortunately killed a sacred bull, in revenge for which
they were all murdered, to the number of eighteen persons,
by an enraged mob. In 1784 it was bravely defended for three
months by Captain Torriano and a detachment of sepoys against
the army of Tippoo Sultan.
HONDA, or San Bartolomeo de Honda, a town of the
department of Tolima, Colombia, on the W. bank of the Magdalena
river, 580 m. above its mouth. In 1906 Mr F. Loraine Petre
