Halloween Holiday observed on October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day. Its pagan origins can be traced to the Celtic festival of Samhain, celebrated in ancient England and Ireland to mark the beginning of the Celtic new year. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on Sam¬ hain eve, and witches, goblins, black cats, and ghosts were said to roam abroad. The night was also thought to be the most favorable time for divi¬ nations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. The pagan obser¬ vances influenced the Christian festival of All Hallows’ Eve, celebrated on the same date. The holiday was gradually secularized and was intro¬ duced into the U.S. by the late 19th century. Still associated with evil spirits and the supernatural, it is celebrated by children in costume who gather candy by ringing doorbells and calling out “trick or treat,” “trick” referring to the pranks and vandalism that are also part of the Halloween tradition.
Hallstatt Vhal-,shtat,\ English \'h6l-,stat\ Site in upper Austria where objects characteristic of the Early Iron Age (from c. 1100 bc) were first identified. More than 2,000 graves were near a salt mine that preserved implements, parts of clothing, and bodies of miners. The remains are divided into four phases (A, B, C,
D), differing according to burial practices, presence of low grave mound or tumulus, relative quantity of bronze and iron, and style of pot¬ tery, weapons, jewelry, and clothing.
Decoration in general is geometric and symmetrical, with a tendency toward the extravagant.
hallucination Perception of objects, sounds, or sensations having no demonstrable reality, usually aris¬ ing from a disorder of the nervous system or in response to certain drugs (see hallucinogen). Hallucinations are in many ways similar to dreams: they derive their content from perceptions known to memory, though these can be greatly transformed. Hallucinations can result when attention collapses from intense arousal due to extreme anxiety, fatigue, excitement, or other causes. They figure prominently in the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
hallucinogen \h3-'lu-s 3 n-9-j3n\ Substance that produces psychological effects normally associated only with dreams, schizophrenia, or religious visions. It produces changes in perception (ranging from distortions in what is sensed to perceptions of objects where there are none), thought, and feeling. Those that have aroused the most controversy include Ecstasy, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin (from certain mushrooms), and bufotenine (from the skin of toads); some would add marijuana. The mode of action is still not clear; serotonin, epinephrine, or other neurotransmitters may be affected.
Halmahera V.hal-mo-'hor-oV Dutch Djailolo \j!-'lo-lo\ Largest island of the Moluccas, Indonesia. It is made up of four peninsulas enclosing three great bays; politically it includes the small islands of Temate and Tidore. Its area is 6,865 sq mi (17,780 sq km). It is dominated by heavily wooded mountain chains, with three active volcanoes on the northern peninsula. The indigenous population, whose descendants inhabit the inte¬ rior, were probably Papuan; the coastal people include many elements from surrounding islands. In 1683 the Dutch obtained a foothold in Hal¬ mahera with the aid of the sultan of Temate. With the Moluccas, it was incorporated into the Republic of Indonesia in 1949.
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Edmond Halley, detail of an oil paint¬ ing by Richard Phillips, c. 1720; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Bronze bucket found at Early Iron Age cemetery at Hallstatt, Austria, about 6th century bc.
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halogen ► Hamilton I 831
halogen Vha-b-jonV Any of five nonmetallic elements—fluorine, chlo¬ rine, bromine, iodine, and astatine—with similar chemical properties. They occur in the second rightmost column of the periodic table as usually arranged. All are highly reactive oxidizing agents (see oxidation-reduction) with valence 1 (for fluorine, the only valence). They combine readily with most metals and nonmetals to form a variety of compounds and never occur uncombined in nature. A radioactive element, astatine occurs natu¬ rally in minute amounts as an intermediate decay product; it has no stable nonradioactive isotopes. Halogen salts formed with metal atoms (halides) are very stable; sodium chloride is the most familiar. The halogen lamp takes its name from the halogens included in the gas within its tungsten-filament bulb, added to prolong filament life and increase brightness.
halogen lamp or tungsten-halogen lamp Incandescent lamp with a quartz bulb and a gas filling that includes a HALOGEN. It gives bril¬ liant light from a compact unit. The halogen combines with the tungsten evaporated from the hot filament to form a compound that is attracted back to the filament, thus extending the filament’s life. The evaporated tungsten is also prevented from condensing on the bulb and darkening it, an effect that reduces the light output of ordinary incandescent lamps. First used in the late 1960s in motion-picture production, halogen lamps are now also used in automobile headlights, underwater photography, and residential lighting.
1581/85, Antwerp, Spanish
Hals Vhalz, 'hals\, Frans (b.
Netherlands—d. Sept. 1, 1666, Haar¬ lem, Neth.) Dutch portrait painter.
He spent his life in Haarlem, where he was registered as a master by the Guild of St. Luke in 1610. His group portraits of members of local guilds and military societies, notably the monumental Banquet of Officers of the Civic Guard of St. George (1616), were painted with a tech¬ nique close to Impressionism in its looseness, unique in Dutch art at the time. He introduced a jovial spirit that revolutionized portraiture and set him apart from his contemporar¬ ies. His subjects exude joie de vivre, with an occasional hint of sadness.
After 1650 he portrayed elderly people who nervously display the spark of life even as it flickers; these portraits, such as The Women Regents of the Almshouse at Haar¬ lem (1664), are his masterpieces. His work greatly influenced Edouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, and Robert Henri.
The Merry Toper, oil on canvas by Frans Hals, c. 1628-30; in the Rijks- museum, Amsterdam.
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Halsey Vhol-se, 'h6l-ze\, William F(rederick), Jr, known as Bull Halsey (b. Oct. 30, 1882, Elizabeth, N.J., U.S.—d. Aug. 16, 1959, Fish¬ ers Island, N.Y.) U.S. admiral. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Acad¬ emy, he commanded a destroyer in World War I. He became a naval aviator in 1935, and in 1940 he was promoted to vice admiral. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, his fleet was at sea; the only U.S. naval presence in the Pacific for months, it carried out surprise attacks against Japanese-held islands in the Marshall and Gilbert islands. A leading expo¬ nent of carrier-based aircraft, he became famous for his daring and imagi¬ native tactics. As commander of the South Pacific naval forces, he was instrumental in the Japanese defeat at Guadalcanal. In 1944 he became commander of the 3rd Fleet, leading his carrier task force in brilliant air strikes. He was responsible for finding and destroying the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He was promoted to fleet admiral in 1945 and retired in 1947.
Halsted, William S(tewart) (b. Sept. 23, 1852, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Sept. 7, 1922, Baltimore, Md.) U.S. pioneer of scientific sur¬ gery. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1877. In 1881 he discovered that blood could be aerated and reinfused. He developed conduction anesthesia (1885) by experimenting with injecting his own nerve trunks with cocaine, a substance to which he subsequently became addicted (though later cured). At Johns Hopkins University he established the first surgical school in the U.S. An early champion of aseptic procedures, Halsted introduced the use of thin rubber gloves in surgery (1890). He emphasized homeostasis during surgery, gentleness in