HATCH

hatch, edwin (1835-1889), english theologian, was born at derby on the 14th of september 1835, and was educated at king edward's school, birmingham, under james prince lee, afterwards bishop of manchester. he had many struggles to pass through in early life, which tended to discipline his character and to form the habits of severe study and the mental independence for which he came to be distinguished. hatch became scholar of pembroke college, oxford, took a second-class in classics in 1857, and won the ellerton prize in 1858. he was professor of classics in trinity college, toronto, from 1859 to 1862, when he became rector of the high school at quebec. in 1867 he returned to oxford, and was made vice-principal of st mary hall, a post which he held until 1885. in 1883 he was presented to the living of purleigh in essex, and in 1884 was appointed university reader in ecclesiastical history. in 1880 he was bampton lecturer, and from 1880 to 1884 grinfield lecturer on the septuagint. in 1883 the university of edinburgh conferred on him the d.d. degree. he was the first editor of the university official _gazette_ (1870), and of the _student's handbook to the university_. a reputation acquired through certain contributions to the _dictionary of christian antiquities_ was confirmed by his treatises _on the organization of the early christian churches_ (1881, his bampton lectures), and on _the influence of greek ideas and usages on the christian church_ (the hibbert lectures for 1888). these works provoked no little criticism on account of the challenge they threw down to the high-church party, but the research and fairness displayed were admitted on all hands. the bampton lectures were translated into german by harnack. among his other works are _the growth of church institutions_ (1887); _essays in biblical greek_ (1889); _a concordance to the septuagint_ (in collaboration with h. a. redpath); _towards fields of light_ (verse, 1889); _the god of hope_ (sermons with memoir, 1890). hatch died on the 10th of november 1889. an appreciation by w. sanday appeared in _the expositor_ for february 1890. hatch. 1. (in mid. eng. _hacche_; the word is of obscure origin, but cognate forms appear in swed. _hacka_, and dan. _hackke_; it has been connected with "hatch," grating, with possible reference to a coop, and with "hack" in the sense "to peck," of chickens coming out of the shell), to bring out young from the egg, by incubation or other process, natural or artificial. the word is also used as a substantive of a brood of chickens brought out from the eggs. "hatchery" is particularly applied to a place for the hatching of fish spawn, where the natural process is aided by artificial means. in a figurative sense "to hatch" is often used of the development or contrivance of a plot or conspiracy. 2. (from the fr. _hacher_, to cut, _hache_, hatchet), to engrave or draw by means of cutting lines on wood, metal, &c., or to ornament by inlaying with strips of some other substance as gold or silver. engraved lines, especially those used in shading, are called "hatches" or "hachures" (see hachure). 3. (o.e. _haec_, a gate, rack in a stable; found in various teutonic languages; cf. dutch _hek_, dan. _hekke_; the ultimate origin is obscure; skeat suggests a connexion with the root seen in "hook"), the name given to the lower half of a divided door, as in "buttery-hatch," the half-door leading from the buttery or kitchen, through which the dishes could be passed into the dining-hall. it was used formerly as another name for a ship's deck, and thus the phrase "under hatches" meant properly below deck; the word is now applied to the doors of grated framework covering the openings (the "hatchways") which lead from one deck to another into the hold through which the cargo is lowered. in cornwall the word is used to denote certain dams or mounds used to prevent the tin-washes and the water coming from the stream-works from flowing into the fresh rivers. hatchet (adapted from the fr. _hachette_, diminutive of _hache_, axe, _hacher_, to cut, hack), a small, light form of axe with a short handle (see tool); for the war-hatchet of the north american indians and the symbolical ceremonies connected with it see tomahawk.