GEL
GEM
it is fmaller than the common grey heron. Its tail alfo is much longer, and it has no creft. It is fometimes feen in Eng- land, and has been miftaken for a common heron become accidentally white, as fparrows and other birds fometimes are. Ray's Ornithol, p. 205.
GAZZETTA, in zoology, a name given by Gefner and others to a fpecies of fmall white heron, fold in the mar- kets of Italy, and feeming to be the ardea alba minor of authors, or gaza giovane of the Venetians. Gefner-, de Avib. See Gaza Giovane,
GAZZETTO, in ichthyology, a name of a fifh of the turdus, or wraffe kind, caught in the Mediterranean, and fold in the markets of Italy. It is of a fine green colour, and is confi- derably thick, though broad ; its fins are fpotted, and it has a large purple tubercle near the anus. It has only one back fin which has twenty four ribs or nerves, the firft fifteen of which are rigid and prickly, the reft fmooth and flexile. Rays Ichthyolog. p. 320. See the article Turdus.
GEANNIDES, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome au- thors to the ftone called by others encymonttes. It feems to have been the fame with our fparry incruftations on the tops of caverns, c5V. but the word has been generally underftood to mean the eagle ftone. It was fuppofed to poficfs great virtues in helping delivery, and was given to women in their la- bours.
GEAR, ox about your gear, at fea, a command to work on all hands.
GEASTER, in botany, the name of a genus of fungus's : or ac- cording to Linnaeus, of fome fpecies of the genus of the Lyco- perdon. Thefe fungus's have a radiated bottom like a liar, and in the center of this there grows a round ball which opens at the top when ripe, and is found to be full of im- palpable feeds in form of powder. See Lycoperdon.
GECCO, in natural hiftory, a name given by the Indians to their terrible poifon, which kills in ever fo fmall a quantity when mixed with the blood. They fay that this gecco is a venomous froth or humor, vomited out of the mouths of their moft poifon'ous ferpents, which they procure in this fatal ftrength, by hanging up the creatures by the tails, and whip- ping them to enrage them : they collect this in proper vefl'els as it falls, and when they would ufe it, they either poifon a weapon with it, or wounding any part of the flefh, intro- duce the fmalleft quantity imaginable of it, and this is faid to be immediate death. Sympfifi's Zymol. Chym.
GECHYTON, a name given by fome authors to the external covering of the earth, commonly called garden mould, which is foft and not ftony. Ruland.
GECOLITHUS, a corrupt way of fpelling the word tecoli- tbus, the name of the lapis judaicus among the Romans. The writers of the middle ages often write it gecolithus.
GED, in zoology, an Englifh name for the fmall fpecies of fnipe, ufually called the juddock, and by authors gallinago minima. See Juddock.
GEGENES, T-nyuuq, in antiquity. The antients generally called themfelves V'vymn f fins of the earth, as Hefychius informs us. Alluding to the fame original, the Athenians fometimes ftyled themfelves, Ttriiytu grafshoppers ; and fome of them wore grafshoppers of gold, faftened to their hair as badges of ho- nour, to diftinguifh them from others of lefs antiquity, and lefs noble extraction, becaufe thofe infe&s were believed to be generated out of theground. Pott. Archseol. Graec. 1. I. c. 1.
GEISON. SeeGisoN.
GEL^EOPACHlA, in natural hiftory, the name of a clafs of mineral fluids, which are inflammable, and of a fomewhat thick texture, and opake.
The word is derived from the Greek y» the earth, ehxiov oil, and ■wixws thick. The bodies of this clafs are the Barbadoes tar, oil of earth, and the common piflafphaltum of the mops, which fee under their feveral heads. Hill's Hift. of FoiT. p. 421.
GEL^OPSILA, in natural hiftory, the name of a clafs of fofils. The word is derived from the Greek ysi earth iteiw oil, and ■4"Ai<r thin, and expreffes a thin oily fubftance naturally found in the earth. Thefe are thin and pellucid inflam- mable liquid fubftances, commonly known by the name of liquid bitumens, but by that denomination confounded with the thicker and coarfer kinds. The only bodies of this clafs are thofe commonly diftinguiihed by the names of Naph- tha, and Petroleum. See Naphtha. Hill's Hift. of Foft". p. 419.
GELASINI Denies, a term ufed by fome authors to exprefs the four middle fore teeth, both of the upper and under jaw. They have this name from the Greek ys^wj laughter, becaufe they are fhewn when people laugh.
GELATINA, jelly, a form of food, or medicine prepared from the juices of ripe fruits, boiled to proper confidence with fugar, or of the ftrong decoflions of the horns, bones, or extremities of animals boiled to fuch a height as to be ftiff and firm when cold, without the addition of any fugar. The jellies of fruits are cooling, faponaceous, and acefcent, and therefore are good as medicines in all diforders of the primae vise, arifing from alcalcfcent juices, efpecially when not given alone, but diluted with water : on the contrary, the jellies made from animal fubftances are all alcalefcent, and are
therefore good in all cafes in which an acidity of the humours pievails : the alcalefcent quality of thefe is however in a great meafure taken off, by the adding lemon juice and fugar to them. There were formerly a fort of jellies much in ufe, called compound jellies ; thefe had the reftorative me- dicinal drugs added to them, but they are now fcarce ever heard of. Hoffw.
Gelatina Avente, oat jelly, a preparation of common oats recommended by many of the German phyficians, in all hectic diforders, to be taken with broth of mails or crawfifh. It is made by boiling a large quantity of oats with the huik taken off, with fome hartfhorn mavings, and currants toge- ther, with a leg of veal cut to pieces, and with the bones all broken ; thefe are to be fet over the fire with a large quantity of water till the whole is reduced to a fort of jelly, which when ftrained and cold will be very firm and hard. A few fpoonfuls of this are to be taken every morning, diluted with a bafon of either of the above mentioned broths, or any o- ther warm liquor.
GELATIO, properly fignifies freezing, but is alfo ufed for that rigidity of the body and limbs, which comes on in the cataleplis, and other di (orders of that kind.
GELBUM, a name given by the Hungarian miners to a fort of marcafite or mundick, which contains a confiderable quantity of filver.
GELDING [Cycl.) — In gelding of horfes there are two things principally to be regarded, which are the age of the crea- ture, and the feafen of the year ; if it be a colt that is to be gelt, it may be done at nine days old, or at fifteen, or as loon as the tefticles come down ; for the fooner this is done the better it always is for ftrength and courage in the crea- ture afterwards. But a farrier may geld a horfe at any age that he pleafes, if he will be careful as to the cure. The fecond thing is the time of the year, as to this, the months of April and May are always efteemed the moft proper, but it mould by no means be done later than in June for the fummer time ; if this is palled by, it ought to be deferred till the fall of the leaf, or end of September. The farriers generally add a third confideration, which is always to do it in the wane or decreafe of the moon.
The manner of gelding is this. Whether it be a foal, colt, ot horfe it is to be caft, or thrown on its back in a foft place, then the legs are to be faftened fo as to prevent mifchief from ftruggling, and the operator is to take hold of the tefti- cles between the fingers, and flit the fcrotum or cod, and fqueeze out the tefticles at the flit. Then take hold of the veffels with a pair of fine fteel or box nippers, and hold them fo tight that there may be no flux of blood on the cut- ting them; they are then to be cut off" below the nippers, and the ends feared with a hot iron, or they may be burnt off with a thin drawing cauterifing iron, and the whole ope- ration performed at once. There muft be in readinefs a plaifter made of wax, rofin, and wafhed turpentine. The hot iron muft be applied to this, and it muft be made to melt and drop upon the ends of the veffels where they were cut or burnt off, then the iron is to be applied to fear them again, and after this more of the plaifter melted on. This is to be repeated till there is fuch a cicatrix formed, and fuch a thick- nefs of the falveleft on, that there is no danger of the veffels burfting out into a bleeding.
When this is thoroughly done, the nippers, which all this while held the veffels faft above the cutting, are to be loofen- ed, and the other tefticle is to be taken oft", and the vef- fels feared up in the fame manner. When this is done, the flit of the cod is to be filled with white fait, and the outfide rubbed over with hogs lard. After all is over the horfe is to be fufFered to rife, and led into a warm ftable, where he is not to be tied up, but left loofe to walk about, for nothing is better for him than moderate exercife. If the parts mould fwell, he muft be trotted up and down an hour or two every day, and this alone will generally make all right. This is a very coarfe operation, but it is fafe, and generally fucceeds very well.
Gelding, in the manege, is alfo ufed for a horfe, whofe tef- ticles are cut out. Vid. Supra.
GELDUM, a name given by fome to the philofophers ftone.
GELFUM, or Gelbum, a Hungarian name for a kind of mun- dick which contains filver.
GELLOSIA, in natural hiftory, a name by which fome of the writers of the middle ages call the chalazlas.
GEMELLI, {Cycl.) two fmall flat narrow mufcles, fituated al- moft tranfverfely one above another, between the tuberofity of the ifchium, and the great trochanter ; immediately be- low the pyriformis, and parted by the tendon of the obtu- rator internus.
The fuperior or fmaller gemellus is fixed to the lower part of the fpine of the os ifchium, to the fuperior part of the fmall ifchiatic notch, and to a rough line which runs crofs the outfide of the ifchium, beginning at the fpine, and con- tinued under the acetabulum where it is bent downward. The inferior and largeft gemellus, is fixed to the fupe- rior and back part of the tuberofity of the ifchium, and to a rough impreffion, which runs crofs the outfide of the ifchium, from the lower extremity of the ifchia- tic
