GAM
G A N
evaporated over a gentle fire, yields a greyifh {alt, which eafily imbibes moifture from the air, if not kept in a glafs well .itopped; and this extract purges in a fmaller ,dofe, than the gum itfelf, and yet with, lefs irritation; its tafte, however, is extremely acrimonious and fiery, and it muft ■therefore be well djfguifed before it is given. There is, however, another method of giving it, yet more to be re- commended than this for general ufe; this, preparation is, as follows. Tye up the gum in a piece of linen cloth, and put it into a loaf juft drawn from the oven ; the loaf mult be cut open for this purpofe, and afterwards ty'd clofe together, and fet in fome place where it will remain warm four and twenty hours ; after this the gum is to be taken out and re- duced to powder, and this powder ty'd up again, and put into another loaf, and fo on to, the fourth or fifth time ; after which it is to be powdered and kept for ufe. By this eafy pre- paration this medicine lofes its violent operation, , both as a purgative and emetick, and may he given with great fafety, and the crumb of the firft loaf, if eaten', proves purgative. Mem. Acad, 1701. .....
GAME (Cycl.)— Game C-.ck. In the choice of the-game, Qijigbt- ingcack) four things are principally to be confidered ; .thefe are, the fhapc, colour, courage, and fharpnefs of the heel.. , As to the fhape, fuch a one mould be chofen, as is neither too fmall nor too large ; the very large ones are always clumfy. and un- wieldly, and the fmall ones are flow and tedious in fighting, and are generally too weak to (rand a very tight battle : an r other difadvantage in thefe extremes is, that both are very dif- ficult to be matched ; the middle fized one ought therefore ever to be preferred, as he is generally the moft nimble ^and active with his ftrength, and the matching him is eafy. The head ought to be fmall, ,the eyes large and brifk, and the beak ftrong, and hooked at the fetting on ; its colour ought alfo to anfwer to that of the principal or general colour of the feathers, whether that be yellow, redifh, or grey. The beam of his leg ought to be very ftrong, and according to his plu- mage, either blue, grey, or yellow; and the fpurs ought to be rough, long, and fharp, a little bending, and pointing inward. The three colours efteemed in the ■game cock are grey, yellow, and red, with a black breafh . The perfection of a cock is not, however, ty'd down abfolutely to thefe co- lours, experience has fhewn, that there are cocks of other colours which have proved excellent ones, but thefe are in general the beft ; the pied cock fometimes turns out good, but the white and dun are feldom of any value. If the neck of acock be inverted with a circle of a fcarlet com- plexion, it is a fign that he is ftrong, vigorous, and ; has great courage; but, on the contrary, if it be pale and wan, it denotes him to be defective in thefe material particulars. The courage of the cock may be in fome meafure guefled at by his proud ftately manner of walking, and it is a token of great fpirit to crow frequently in .the pen. What the gamefters in this way call a narrow or (harp heel, is only to be known by ob- fervation of the bird while fighting ; the cock that has this-, at every rifing ftrikes his adverfary in the proper place, he always draws blood, and at every ftrokc threatens immediate death. ■
It is generally allowed, that a fharp heeled cock, though he be fomewhat falfe, is yet to be preferred to a good cock with a dull heel \ the one fights a long time, but feldom wounds, while the other gives expectation, every moment, of the end of the battle ; and though he will not ftand all the hew- ing that the firft will, yet it is feldom found neceflary, he brin<nn<r the battle to a fhorter conclufion : if therefore a cock'beVound which is middle fized, hardy; and fharp heel- ed, he is the beft that can be.
In order to prepare a cock for fighting, his mane is to be clipped off with a pair of fhears clofe to the flefh, all the way down the neck, from the head to the ihoulders; the jfeathers are alfo all to be clipped off clofe to the rump, and the reder that appears, the better condition the cock is in. The wings are to be fpread by the length of the firft rifing feather, and all the others are to be cut Hoping with fharp points^ that in rifing he may endanger the eyes of his adver- fary; there muft be no feathers left on the crown of the head, that the opponent can take hold of, and his head mould he moiftened with fpittle ( then the fpurs being put onj and he is to be turned into the pit to try his fortune. For the well breeding of game cods, the game ben fhould be of the right and ftaunch breed ; her colour fliould be black, brown, fpeckled', grey, or grizzled, or fhe may be yellowifh, this laft colour being by many preferred to all the reft : if fhe be tufted on the crown fhe is the more to be efteemed, for this is a promife of courage and refolution in the chickens ; if fhe have fpurs, it is alfo a very good fign. Her body fhould be large, and particularly behind, that {he may be able to lay large eggs j her behaviour among the other hens is alfo to be noted, for if fhe be found of a tame fpirit, re- ceiving abufes from them without revenge, or fhewing any token of courage, it may be depended on that her chickens will be good for nothing.
A right game ben from a dunghill cock will bring good chickens, but the beft game cock, in the world, with a dung- hill hen, will never bring a chicken worth a farthing ; but Suppl. Vol. I.
the cocker who would have, a breed of the very beft chickens^ is to find a match of the beft cock and beft hen he can any where meet with, few from thefe will prove bad. The beft feafon for the -breeding the game cocks is from the beginning of February to the middle or latter end of March; the neft for the hen is to be made of fweet and clean ftraw, and fhould be placed in fome warm corner, out of the way of difturbance from other fowl, ifor this fort of interruption provokes this quarrelfome bird in fuch a manner, as to en- danger the eggs. That {he may never have occafion to leave the neft, and cool her eggs, it will be proper fo lay all forts of food, that fhe. is likely to approve of, before her , and to put clean water every day, not only for her to drink, but to wafh and trim herfelf in ; fome afhes, fand, and gravel fhould alfo be fiftcd on about the neft. The chickens are hatched, in about three, weeks, and the neft is to be carefully watched about this time,, for there are always fome of the chickens hatched before the others; thefe fhould be taken away as foon as out of the fhell, and laid before the fire, or in fome warm place in wool, and as foon as the reft are hatched, thefe fhould be given back to the hen. They are not to be fuffered to go abroad for the firft fortnight, and the room they are kept in muft be boarded, all other floors being too cold and too moiift. At about a month old the chickens may be turned out into a walk of fome frefh grafs, that they may feed at liberty, and cat worms and other infects ; but there muft be no puddle of water near the place, for they are apt to get into fuch, and it occafions them a number of difeafes.. As foon as the comb and, wattles appear on the cocks, they muft be cut away, and the fore place anointed with frefh butter till it is well. The chickens may all be fuffered to run together till they begin to peck one another, then the cocks are to be feparated; each muft have his par- ticular walk, and the more free from difturbance this is, the better. The place of feeding them muft either be a boarded floor, or a very foft and dry piece of ground. If the place be hard, as a ftony pavement, or a plaiftered floor, the taking up their food will injure and blunt their beaks, fo that they will never be able to hold faft afterwards. Any white corn is good for the young game cock in his walks, and fo is a white bread toaft fteeped in ale; at times this may be given him fteeped in urine, which will ferve to fcour and cool him very well. There never fhould be more than three hens allowed to one cock in his walk, for if there are morej he will confume his ftrength in the treading; and though his courage may not fail, yet he will never have the ability to go through a battle. Care is to be taken alfo as to his roofting place, that the perch be not too fmall in the gripe, and be fo placed, that he may fit on it without ftradling; if the perch be crooked it is alfo very difadvantageous, for it will accuftom the cock to fuch an uneven difpofition of his feet, that he will be no good ftriker in the battle. The beft me- thod of contriving the roofting place is to have a row of fhort perches, about eight inches long, and the loweft ten inches from the ground, that he may afcehd with the more eafe, and when he is come to the roofting perch, be con- ftrained to fit with his legs clofe together. A cock bred in this manner may be fought young, but the beft method is not to , hazard a battle till he is foihewhat more than two years o|d\
Game cocks are commonly brought to the ftate of their grcateft ftrength and activity in about ten days, which Dr. Robinfon calls their athletic weight ; but they will fcarce remain twenty four hours in this condition; nay, fome have been known to change for the worfe in twelve hours. See athletic Weight.
GAMELION, r«(*nJu«r, in ant'ient chronology, the eighth month of the Athenian year. It contained twenty nine days, and anfwered to the latter part of our January, and the be- ginning of February.
This month had its name from being facred to Juno Tap-nMos, the goddefs of marriage;
GAMITES Lapis* the, marriage jlone, a ftone of a very An- gular kind defcribed by Pliny, and fome other of the anti- ents ; he fays it was of a white colour, and that it had in it the figure of two hands mutually infolding one another, which made.it a fymbol of that ftate. We know nothing of any fuch ftone at prefent in the world ; arid it is eafy to conjec- ture, that in Pliny's time either the ftone muft have been factitious, or elfe fancy muft have been very far ftretched to make the refemblance.
GAMMADIUM, a triangular veftment ufed in the primitive church. Hoffm. Lex. in voc.
GANACHES, in the manege, are the two bones, one on each fide of the hinder part of the head, oppofite to the neck, or onfet of the head, which form the lower jaw, and give it motion. It is in this place that the glands, or kernels of the ftrangles, and the glanders; are placed.
GANG (Cycl.) gang fi/ht a name given by fome authors to a fmall fifh caught in the German lakes, and lent in pickle into many parts of the world. The more ufual name of this fifh. among writers is iavaretus. JVilloughby, Hift. Pifc. p. 183. The gangfijh is a fpecies of the coregonus, diftinguiftied by Artcdi by the name of the coregonus, with the upper jaw 12 C longcft
