HYMN, a religious song. The hymns sung in the christian church, as distinguished from the psalms, are pieces of poetry composed by pious but not inspired authors. HYOIDES, in anatomy. See ANATOMY, p. 166. HYOSCYAMUS, HEN-BANE, in botany, a genus of the pentandria monogynia class. The corolla is obtuse and funnel-shaped; the stamens are inclined; and the capsule is operculated, and consists of two cells. There are six species, only one of which, viz. the niger, or common hen-bane, is a native of Britain. The leaves, &c. of this plant are highly narcotic and poisonous, and now disregarded in practice. HYOTHYROIDES, in anatomy. See ANATOMY, p. 300. H Y P HYPANTE, or HYPANTÆ, a name given by the Greeks to the feast of the presentation of Jesus in the temple. This word, which signifies lowly or humble meeting, was given to this feast, from the meeting of old Simon and Anna the prophetess in the temple, when Jesus was brought thither. HYPECUM, wild CUMIN, in botany, a genus of the tetrandria digynia class. The calix consists of two leaves, and the corolla of four petals, the two outermost of which are broader, and divided into three segments. There are four species, none of them natives of Britain. HYPBATON, in grammar, a figurative construction inverting the natural and proper order of words and sentences. HYPBOLA. See CONIC SECTIONS. HYPBOLE, in rhetoric, a figure, whereby the truth and reality of things are excessively either enlarged or diminished. An object uncommon with respect to size, either very great of its kind or very little, strikes us with surprise; and this emotion forces upon the mind a momentary conviction that the object is greater or less than it is in reality: the same effect, precisely, attends figurative grandeur or littleness; and hence the hyperbole, which expresses this momentary conviction. A writer, taking advantage of this natural delusion, enriches his description greatly by the hyperbole: and the reader, even in his coolest moments, relishes this figure, being sensible that it is the operation of nature upon a warm fancy.