Adventures in the Wilds of Australia (1854), Land, Labour and Gold; or, Two Years in Victoria (1855) and Tallangetta, the Squatter’s Home (1857). On his return to England Howitt had settled at Highgate and resumed his indefatigable book-making. From 1856 to 1862 he was engaged on Cassell’s Illustrated History of England, and from 1861 to 1864 he and his wife worked at the Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain. The Howitts had left the Society of Friends in 1847, and became interested in spiritualism. In 1863 appeared The History of the Supernatural in all Ages and Nations, and in all Churches, Christian and Pagan, demonstrating a Universal Faith, by William Howitt. He added “his own conclusions from a practical examination of the higher phenomena through a course of seven years.” From 1870 onwards Howitt spent the summers in Tirol and the winters in Rome, where he died on the 3rd of March 1879. Mary Howitt was much affected by his death, and in 1882 she joined the Roman Catholic Church, towards which she had been gradually moving during her connexion with spiritualism. She died at Rome on the 30th of January 1888. The Howitts are remembered for their untiring efforts to provide wholesome and instructive literature. Their son, Alfred William Howitt, made himself a name by his explorations in Australia. Anna Mary Howitt married Alaric Alfred Watts, and was the author of Pioneers of the Spiritual Reformation (1883).
Mary Howitt’s autobiography was edited by her daughter, Margaret Howitt, in 1889. William Howitt wrote some fifty books, and his wife’s publications, inclusive of translations, number over a hundred.
HOWITZER (derived, through an earlier form howitz, and the
Ger. Haubitz, from the Bohemian houfnice = catapult, from
which come also, through the Ital. obiza or obice, the French
forms obus = shell and obusier = howitzer), a form of mobile
ordnance in use from the 16th century up to the present day. It is
a short and therefore comparatively light gun, which fires a
heavy projectile at low velocity. A high angle of elevation is
always given and the angle of descent of the projectile is consequently
steep (up to 70°). On this fact is based the tactical
use of the modern howitzer. The field howitzer is of the greatest
value for “searching” trenches, folds of ground, localities, &c.,
which are invulnerable to direct fire, while the more powerful
siege howitzer has, since the introduction of modern artillery and,
above all, of modern projectiles, taken the foremost place
amongst the weapons used in siege warfare.
See Artillery, Ordnance and Fortification and Siegecraft.
HOWLER, a name applied to the members of a group of
tropical American monkeys, now known scientifically as Alouata,
although formerly designated Mycetes. These monkeys, which
are of large size, with thick fur, sometimes red and sometimes
black in colour, are characterized by the inflation of the hyoid-bone
(which supports the roof of the tongue) into a large shell-like
organ communicating with the wind-pipe, and giving the
peculiar resonance to the voice from which they take their title.
To allow space for the hyoid, the sides of the lower jaw are very
deep and expanded. The muzzle is projecting, and the profile of
the face slopes regularly backwards from the muzzle to the
crown. The long tail is highly prehensile, thickly furred, with the
under surface of the extremity naked. Howlers dwell in large
companies, and in the early morning, and again in the evening,
make the woods resound with their cries, which are often continued
throughout the night. They feed on leaves, and are in the
habit of sitting on the topmost branches of trees. When active,
they progress in regular order, led by an old male. (R. L.*)
HOWRAH, a city and district of British India, in the Burdwan
division of Bengal. The city is situated opposite Calcutta, with
which it is connected by a floating bridge. The municipal area
is about 11 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 157,594, showing an increase of
35% in the decade. Since 1872 the population has almost
doubled, owing to the great industrial development that has
taken place. Howrah is the terminus of the East Indian railway,
and also of the Bengal-Nagpur and East Coast lines. It is
also the centre of two light railways which run to Amta and
Sheakhala. Further, it is the headquarters of the jute-manufacturing
industry, with many steam mills, steam presses, also
cotton mills, oil mills, rope-works, iron-works and engineering
works. Sibpur Engineering College lies on the outskirts of the
town. There is a hospital, with a department for Europeans, and
Howrah forms a suburban residence for many people who have
their place of business in Calcutta.
The District of Howrah extends southwards down the right bank of the Hugli to the confluence of the river Damodar. For revenue purposes it is included within the district of Hugli Its area is 510 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 850,514, showing an increase of 11% in the decade. In addition to the two steam tramways and the East Indian railway, the district is crossed by the high-level canal to Midnapore, which communicates with the Hugli at Ulubaria. The manufacturing industries of Howrah extend beyond the city into the district. One or two systems of draining low-lying lands are maintained by the government.
HOWSON, JOHN SAUL (1816–1885), English divine, was born
at Giggleswick-in-Craven, Yorkshire, on the 5th of May 1816.
After receiving his early education at Giggleswick school, of
which his father was head-master, he went to Trinity College,
Cambridge, and there became tutor successively to the marquis of
Sligo and the marquis of Lorne. In 1845 Howson, having taken
orders, accepted the post of senior classical master at the Liverpool
College under his friend W. J. Conybeare, whom he succeeded
as principal in 1849. This post he held until 1865, and it was
largely due to his influence that a similar college for girls was
established at Liverpool. In 1866 he left Liverpool for the
vicarage of Wisbech, and in 1867 he was appointed dean of
Chester Cathedral, where he gave himself vigorously to the work
of restoring the crumbling fabric, collecting nearly £100,000 in
five years for this purpose. His sympathies were with the
evangelical party, and he stoutly opposed the “Eastward
position,” but he was by no means narrow. He did much to
reintroduce the ministry of women as deaconesses. The building
of the King’s School for boys, and the Queen’s School for girls
(both in Chester), was due in a great measure to the active
interest which he took in educational matters. He died at
Bournemouth on the 15th of December 1885, and was buried in
the cloister garth of Chester. Howson’s chief literary production
was The Life and Epistles of St Paul (1852) in which he collaborated
with Conybeare.
The book is still of interest, especially for its descriptive passages, which were mostly done by Howson; but later researches (such as those of Sir W. M. Ramsay) have made the geographical and historical sections obsolete, and the same may be said of the treatment of the Pauline theology.
HOWTH [pronounced Hōth], a seaside town of Co. Dublin,
Ireland, on the rocky hill of Howth, which forms the northern
horn of Dublin Bay, 9 m. N.E. by N. of Dublin by the Great
Northern railway. Pop. (1901) 1166. It is frequented by the
residents of the capital as a watering-place. The artificial
harbour was formed (1807–1832) between the mainland and the
picturesque island of Ireland’s Eye, and preceded Kingstown as
the station for the mail-packets from Great Britain, but was
found after its construction to be liable to silt, and is now chiefly
used by fishing-boats and yachts. The collegiate church,
standing picturesquely on a cliff above the sea, was founded
about 1235, and has a monastic building attached to it. The
embattled castle contains the two-handed sword of Sir Almeric
Tristram, the Anglo-Norman conqueror of the hill of Howth, and
a portrait of Dean Swift holding one of the Drapier letters, with
Wood, the coiner against whom he directed these attacks,
prostrate before him. The view of Dublin Bay from the hill of
Howth is of great beauty. Howth is connected with the capital
by electric tramway, besides the railway, and another tramway
encircles the hill.
HÖXTER, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Westphalia, prettily situated on the left bank of the Weser, and
on the Prussian state railways Börssum-Soest and Scherfede-Holzminden,
32 m. N. of Cassel. Pop. (1905) 7699. It has a
medieval town hall, and interesting houses with high gables and
wood-carved façades of the 15th and 16th centuries. The most
interesting of the churches is the Protestant church of St Kilian,
