HIATUS

(Lat. vanning, gaping.) A word which has pa ed into several modern languages. In Diplomatics and Bibliography, it signifies a deficiency in the text of an author, as from a pa age erased, worn out, &.c. In Grammar and Prosody, it properly signifies the occurrence of a final vowel, followed immediately by the initial vowel of another word, without the suppre ion of either by a:i apostrophe. This, in Greek and Latin poetry, was only admi ible In certain excepted cases; as where, In Greek, a final long \ succeeded by an initial short vowel, and becomes sometimes short by position; or in Latin, where the co-sura (set Cjesvua) gave an additional force to the first vowel, as in the celebrated line, "Ter sunt conati imponere Pcli6 O nm," which affords an instance of both, the first hiatus bring oc casioned by the fa-sura; the second, an imitation of the Greek prosody. In French the hiatal is carefully avoided lish le so, although by the more accurate |>oets still regard cd as a blemish, except in some instances where a Ions vowel is followed by a short one. The worst species of hiatus is where the same vowel sound is repented. BHUSCUS (for Hybriscus; Gr. b6pi;, haughtine ). A genus of very handsome plants, belonging to the Halvaeeoul order, with unusually large and showy flowers. They are numerous in the tropics, where they generally form line trees; but some of the species are only annual. Of the latter H. trionum is a commonly cultivated plant, known in the seed-shops under the name Of bladder katmia. Very few of the species are of any interest. II. Syriacus is the Mthma. frutez of shrubberies; II. abelmoschus yields the musk-seed of pharmacy; and H. esculcntus, the Gubbo or Ochro of the tropics, bears seed-ve els abounding so much in mucilage as to be a common ingredient in the soups of the hotter climates of the world. H. Rosa sinensis, a Chinese plant, is remarkable for the property po e ed by its flowers of dyeing black. [s. 573]