GER
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GEOMETRICAL (Cyd.)~- Geometrical method of the. an- tients. It is to be obferved that the antients eftablifhed the higher parts of their geometry on the fame principles as the ele- ments of that fcience, by demonft rations of the fame kind j and that they feem to have been careful not to fuppofe any thing done, till by a previous problem they had fhewn how it was to be performed. Far lefs did they fuppofe any thing to be done, that cannot be conceived, as a line or feries to be actually continued to infinity, or a magnitude to be diminifh- ed till it become infinitely lefs than what it was. The ele- ments into which they refolved magnitudes were finite, and fuch as might be conceived to be real. Unbounded liber- ties have been introduced of late, by which geometry, which ought to be perfectly clear, is filled with myfleries. See Mac Lauren's Fluxions. Introd. pag. 39. feq.
GEOMORI, rsw^oi, in antiquity, the divifion or clafs of the antient Athenians, employed in agriculture. See the article Eupatridje.
GEORGE noble, a piece of gold, Current at fix millings and eight pence in the reign of king Henry VIII. Lownd's EfT. upon Coins, pag. 41.
GERANITES, in natural hiflory, a name given by fome au- thors to fuch pieces of agate, or any other of the femipellu- cid gems, as have round fpots in them, refembling in colour the eye of a crane.
GERANIUM, crams bill, in botany, the name of a very large genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the rofaceous kind, and is compofed of feve- ral petals arranged, into a circular form. From the cup of the flower there, arifes a piftil, which becomes afterwards a fruit of the fhape of the beek of a crane j this is marked with five longitudinal ftrias, to the end of each of which there is affixed an oblong feed veflel, which terminates in a very long tail, and contains a fingle oblong feed ufually of an oblong figure.
The fpeeies of cranes bill, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. 1. The great aconite leaved cranes bill, or as it is commonly called, the crow foot cranes bill with blue flowers. 2. -The crow foot cranes bill with white flowers, beautifully ftreaked with blue. 3. The crow foot cranes bill with perfectly white flowers. 4. The largefl crow foot cranes bill with lefs divided leaves. 5. The fweet fcented crow foot crams bill. 6. The common crow foot cranes bill, or gratia del. 7. The white flowered common crow foot -cranes bill. 8. The letter gratia dci. g. The common crow foot cranes bill, with variegated flowers. 10. The crow foot crams bill, called by the Germans cranes neck. 11. The letter 'annual crow foot crams bill with purplifh flowers. 12. The lefler perennial crowfoot cranes bill with variegated flowers. 13,. The black flowered cranes bill with the leaves of the flower bent backwards. 14. The common black flower- ed cranes bill with flat or ftrait flower leaves. 15. The fpotted leaved black flowered cranes bill with; ftrait or flat petals. x6. The knotty rooted cranes bill, or afphodel root- ed cranes bill. 17. The tuberofe rooted cranes bill with trifid leaves. 18. The purple Mufcovy cranes bill. 19. The Roman cranes bill with ftriated flowers. 20. The large flowered bloody cranes bill. 21. The bloody cranes bill with variegated flowers. 22. The bloody cranes bill with paler coloured _ and more deeply divided leaves. 23. The bloody cranes bill with more upright ftalks and fmaller flowers. 24. The greater tuberofe rooted cranes bill. 25. The filvery alpine cranes bill. 26. The thick rooted alii- coloured- leaved Pyrenean cranes bill, with large variegated flowers. 27. The mining leaved ftone cranes bill. 28. The little ranunculus leaved cranes bill. 29. The roundifh mallow leaved cranes bill, or dove's foot cranes bill. 30. The greater blue flowered dove's foot cranes bill. 31. The dove's foot cranes bill with fmaller blue flowers. 32. The white flowered dove's foot cranes bill. 33. The greateft perennial Pyrenean dove's foot cranes bill. 34. The round leaved mountain cranes bill with large purple flowers. 35. The greateft dove's foot cranes bill With difTected leaves. 36. The dove's foot cranes bill with difTected leaves, and with flowers on long footftalks. 37. The finely divided dove's foot cranes bill. 38. The finely divided dove's foot cranes bill with white flowers. 39. The leffer dove's foot cranes bill with a larger flower compofed of bifid petals. 40. The large finely divided dove's foot cranes bill with bifid petals. 41, The common marfh mal- low leaved cranes bill. 42. The marfh mallow leaved cranes bill with deep purple flowers. 43. The fmaller mallow leaved cranes bill. 44. The mallow cranes bill with thick, wririkled, and undivided leaves. 45. The little procumbent fea cranes bill with marfh mallow or betony leaves. 46. The cranes bill with leaves like thofe of the bladder alcea. 47. The common or green leaved herb roberi. 48. The red leaved herb robert. 49. The white flowered herb robert. 50. The mining ffone cranes bill with herb robert leaves. 5 1 - The hemlock leaved crams bill with very long beaks.
52. The hemlock leaved cranes bill with the fmell of mufk.
53. The fcentlefs hemlock leaved cranes bill. 54. The fmall procumbent hemlock leaved cranes bill. 55. The little procumbent hemlock leaved cranes bill with white flowers. 56. The upright hemlock leaved Roman cranes bill. 57. The
Neapolitan crnnes bill, with the Cretic corn marygold leaf. 58. The broad leaved Candy cranes bill with extremely long and large beaks. 59. The long beaked annual fca cranes bill with jagged leaves. 60. The thick and woolly leaved crows fobT cranes bill. 61. The fmalleft cranes bill with germander leaves. 62. The hemlock leaved rock cranes .bill with thfck roots." 63. The large rooted Spanifh cranes bill with thick hemlock like 'leaves. 64. The lhrubby African gera- nium, with a roundifh marfh mallow like leaf, and the car- line fmell. 65. The African geranium with hairy leaves like thofe of the ladies mantle, and with white flowers. 66. The fcarlet flowered African geranium with a jagged and fpotted betony like leaf, 67. The procumbent African geranium with betony leaves, and fmall, elegantly variegated flowers. 68. The tuberofe or knotty rooted African gera- nium, fmelling fweet in the night, with leaves like thofe of columbines. 69. The columbine leaved night fcented Afri- can geranium with pale red flowers. 70. The night' fcented anemone leaved African geranium, with deep red flowers. 71. The red flowered night fcented African geranium with narrower anemone like leaves. 72. The goofeberry leaved African geranium with very fmall red flowers, 73. The larger coriander leaved red flowered African geranium. 74. The lefler coriander leaved African geranium with flefh co- loured flowers. 75. The Indian fad looking night fcented cranes bill. 76. The tuberofe rooted night fcented African crams bill with woolly and hairy parfnip-Iike broad leaves, and pale yellow flowers. 77. The tuberofe rooted night fcented cranes bill with narrower woolly parfnip-like leaves. 78. The marfh mallow leaved African cranes bill with fmall flowers. Tourn. Inft. p. 266, feq.
The common wild forts of this plant, and thofe alfo which are brought to the curious from the colder climates are hardy enough, and require little care ; but the African fpeeies, and the others frqm hot countries, which make fo very beauti- ful a figure in our green houfes, require great care in their culture and propagation.
Thefe are to be raifed by planting cuttings of them in any of the fummer months in beds of light rich earth, and care- fully fhading them from the fun, and giving them frequent, but gentle waterings, till they are well rooted. The mats with which thefe beds are covered are to be taken off" in gentle mowers, and always in the hot weather at. nights, that the plants may have the benefit of the dew. They mould remain about two months in this bed, by which time they will have taken root. Some pots of about feven inches wide are then to be filled with light earth, and the plants are to be carefully taken up with as much as ptiflible 01 their own earth about them, and planted feverally in the middle of thefe pots ; when they are to be fet in a fhady place, and watered at times till they have taken root. When they are well root- ed they fhould be fet in a more expofed place to harden them, and mould ffand out till the middle of October; but when the mornings begin, to grow frofty they muff be removed into the green-houfe, and then placed as near the windows as poflible, and the windows fhould be opened upon them till the weather is very cold. During the winter they muft be frequently watered a little at a time, and their dead leaves fhould be pulled off. They mult not fland under the fhade of other plants, nor need any artificial heat. Some raife them alfo from feeds, which mult be carefully preferved and fown on fine light earth, and when they come up be tranfplanted into other beds of rich earth, with dung at the bottom. They muft be fet here at about fix inches afunder, and in July they fhould be tranfplanted into pots, and from that time managed exactly as thofe raifed by cuttings. Miller's Gard. DicT
Geranium ftands recommended as one of the greateft vulnera- ries and abftergents of the vegetable world ; and is highly extolled for its power of ftopping profluvia of the menfes, and haemorrhages of all kinds. Experience confirms the truth of this, efpecially among the poor people in the country j and it were to be wifhed that the plant could be brought into more efteem in the fhops, where at prefent it is disre- garded. GERANOS, Tsfanjc, in antiquity, a remarkable dance perform- ed in the feftival called delia. See Delia. GERARDIA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants the characters of which are thefe. The perianthium is compofed of one leaf divided into five fegments, and remains after the flower is fallen. The flower is of the labiated kind, and compofed only of one leaf. The tube is longer than the cup, and of a cyhndric figure. The upper lip is erect, plain broad, obtufe and emarginated. The lower lip is bent back- wards, and divided into three fegments. The two fide ones are long and emarginated, and the middle one fhorter and bifid. The ftamina are four filaments fomewhat fhorter than the flower, and two of thefe are a little fhorter than the other two. The anthers are fmall. The gcrmen of the piftil is fmall and oval. The ftyle is fimple and fhort, and the ftigma is obtufe. The fruit is an oval bivalve capfule, containing two cells, and opening at the bottom ; when ripe the feeds are fingle and oval. Linnai Gen. Plant, pag. 289. Plumier* Gen. 12.
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