the basin of the Ebro, and is drained by four of its principal tributaries—the Aragon in the north-west, the Gallego in the west, the Cinca in the centre, and the Noguera Ribagorzana along part of the eastern border. These rivers rise among the Pyrenees, and take a southerly course; the two last-named unite with the Segre on their way to join the Ebro. The Cinca receives the combined waters of the Alcanadre and Isuela on the right and the Esera on the left.
The climate varies much according to the region; in the north, cold winds from the snow-capped Pyrenees prevail, while in the south, the warm summers are often unhealthy from the humidity of the atmosphere. Agriculture, the leading industry of Huesca, is facilitated by a fairly complete system of irrigation, by means of which much waste land has been reclaimed, although large tracts remain barren. There is good summer pasturage on the mountains, where cattle, sheep and swine are reared. The mountains are richly clothed with forests of pine, beech, oak and fir; and the southern regions, wherever cultivation is possible, produce abundant crops of wheat and other cereals, vines, mulberries and numerous other fruits and vegetables. The mineral resources include argentiferous lead, copper, iron and cobalt, with salt, lignite, limestone, millstone, gypsum, granite and slate. None of these, however, occurs in large quantities; and in 1903 only salt, lignite and fluor-spar were worked, while the total output was worth less than £1500. Mineral springs are numerous, and the mining industry was formerly much more important; but the difficulties of transport hinder the development of this and other resources. Trade is most active with France, whither are sent timber, millstones, cattle, leather, brandy and wine. Between 1882 and 1892 the wine trade throve greatly, owing to the demand for common red wines, suitable for blending with finer French vintages; but the exports subsequently declined, owing to the protective duties imposed by France. The manufactures, which are of little importance, include soap, spirits, leather, pottery and coarse cloth.
The Saragossa-Lérida-Barcelona railway traverses the province, and gives access, by two branch lines, to Jaca, by way of Huesca, the provincial capital, and to Barbastro. Up to the beginning of the 20th century this was the only railway completed, although it was supplemented by many good roads. But by the Railway Convention of 1904, ratified by the Spanish government in 1906, France and Spain agreed jointly to construct a Transpyrenean line from Oloron, in the Basses Pyrénées, to Jaca, which should pass through the Port de Canfranc, and connect Saragossa with Pau. Apart from the episcopal cities of Huesca (pop. 1900, 12,626) and Jaca (4934), which are separately described, the only towns in the province with more than 5000 inhabitants are Barbastro (7033), an agricultural market, and Fraga (6899), an ancient residence of the kings of Aragon, with a fine 12th century parish church and a ruined Moorish citadel. Monzon, long celebrated as the meeting-place of the Aragonese and Catalonian parliaments, is a town on the lower Cinca, with the ruins of a Roman fortification, and of a 12th century castle, which was owned by the Knights Templar. (See also Aragon.)
HUESCA (anc. Osca), the capital of the Spanish province of
Huesca, 35 m. N.N.E. of Saragossa, on the Tardienta-Huesca-Jaca
railway. Pop. (1900), 12,626. Huesca occupies a height
near the right bank of the river Isuela, overlooking a broad and
fertile plain. It is a very ancient city and bears many traces of its
antiquity. The streets in the older part are narrow and crooked,
though clean, and many of the houses witness by their size and
style to its former magnificence. It is an episcopal see and has
an imposing Gothic cathedral, begun in 1400, finished in 1515,
and enriched with fine carving. In the same plaza is the old
palace of the kings of Aragon, formerly given up for the use of
the now closed Sertoria (the university), so named in memory of
a school for the sons of native chiefs, founded at Huesca by
Sertorius in 77 B.C. (Plut. Sert. 15). Among the other prominent
buildings are the interesting parish churches (San Pedro, San
Martin and San Juan), the episcopal palace, and various benevolent
and religious foundations. Considerable attention is
paid to public education, and there are not only several good
primary schools, but schools for teachers, an institute, an
ecclesiastical seminary, an artistic and archaeological museum,
and an economic society. Huesca manufactures cloth, pottery,
bricks and leather; but its chief trade is in wine and agricultural
produce. The development of these industries caused an increase
in the population which, owing to emigration to France, had
declined by nearly 2000 between 1887 and 1897.
Strabo (iii. 161, where some editors read Ileosca) describes Osca as a town of the Ilergetes, and the scene of Sertorius’s death in 72 B.C.; while Pliny places the Oscenses in regio Vescitania. Plutarch (loc. cit.) calls it a large city. Julius Caesar names it Vencedora; and the name by which Augustus knew it, Urbs victrix Osca, was stamped on its coins, and is still preserved on its arms. In the 8th century A.D. it was captured by the Moors; but in 1096 Pedro I. of Aragon regained it, after winning the decisive battle of Alcoraz.
HUET, PIERRE DANIEL (1630–1721), bishop of Avranches,
French scholar, was born at Caen in 1630. He was educated at
the Jesuit school of Caen, and also received lessons from the
Protestant pastor, Samuel Bochart. At the age of twenty he
was recognized as one of the most promising scholars of the time.
He went in 1651 to Paris, where he formed a friendship with
Gabriel Naudé, conservator of the Mazarin library. In the
following year Samuel Bochart, being invited by Queen Christina
to her court at Stockholm, took his friend Huet with him.
This journey, in which he saw Leiden, Amsterdam and Copenhagen,
as well as Stockholm, resulted chiefly in the discovery,
in the Swedish royal library, of some fragments of Origen’s
Commentary on St Matthew, which gave Huet the idea of editing
Origen, a task he completed in 1668. He eventually quarrelled
with his friend Bochart, who accused him of having suppressed
a line in Origen in the Eucharistic controversy. In Paris he
entered into close relations with Chapelain. During the famous
dispute of Ancients and Moderns Huet took the side of the
Ancients against Charles Perrault and Desmarets. Among his
friends at this period were Conrart and Pellisson. His taste for
mathematics led him to the study of astronomy. He next turned
his attention to anatomy, and, being himself shortsighted,
devoted his inquiries mainly to the question of vision and the
formation of the eye. In this pursuit he made more than 800
dissections. He then learned all that was then to be learned in
chemistry, and wrote a Latin poem on salt. All this time he was
no mere book-worm or recluse, but was haunting the salons of
Mlle de Scudéry and the studios of painters; nor did his scientific
researches interfere with his classical studies, for during this time
he was discussing with Bochart the origin of certain medals, and
was learning Syriac and Arabic under the Jesuit Parvilliers.
He also translated the pastorals of Longus, wrote a tale called
Diane de Castro, and defended, in a treatise on the origin of
romance, the reading of fiction. On being appointed assistant
tutor to the Dauphin in 1670, he edited with the assistance of
Anne Lefèvre, afterwards Madame Dacier, the well-known
edition of the Delphin Classics. This series was a comprehensive
edition of the Latin classics in about sixty volumes, and each work
was accompanied by a Latin commentary, ordo verborum, and
verbal index. The original volumes have each an engraving
of Arion and the Dolphin, and the appropriate inscription in
usum serenissimi Delphini. Huet was admitted to the Academy
in 1674. He issued one of his greatest works, the Demonstratio
evangelica, in 1679. He took holy orders in 1676, and two years
later the king gave him the abbey of Aulnay, where he wrote his
Questiones Aletuanae (Caen, 1690), his Censura philosophiae
Cartesianae (Paris, 1689), his Nouveau mémoire pour servir à
l’histoire du Cartésianisme (1692), and his discussion with
Boileau on the Sublime. In 1685 he was made bishop of Soissons,
but after waiting for installation for four years he took the
bishopric of Avranches instead. He exchanged the cares of his
bishopric for what he thought would be the easier chair of the
Abbey of Fontenay, but there he was vexed with continual lawsuits.
At length he retired to the Jesuits’ House in the Rue
Saint Antoine at Paris, where he died in 1721. His great library
