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lyandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Guttiferæ, Jussieu. Essential character: corolla four-petalled; calyx fourcleft; stigma sessile, cross-shaped; drupe with an eight-furrowed nucleus. There is but one species, viz. G. cauliflora, anchovypear. This tree is about fifty feet in eight, branching at the top; leaves on short: petioles, pendulous, two or three feet long flowers from the stem, on short, scaly, many-flowered peduncles. The uprightness of the growth, and the size of the leaves, give this tree a very elegant appearance.. The fruit is nearly as large as an alligator's egg, resembling it very much in shape, but of a brown colour; they pickle the fruit, and eat it in the same manner with the East Indian mango, which it resembles in flavour. This beautiful tree is common in many parts of Jamaica, growing generally in low moist places.

GRRIELUM, in botany, a genus of the Decandria Pentagynia class and order. Natural order of Gruinales. Essential character: calyx five-cleft; petals five; filament permanent; pericarpium five, with one seed in each. There is only one species, viz. 13. tenuifolium, a native of the Cape of Good Hope.

GRIFFON, in heraldry, an imaginary animal, feigned by the ancients to be half eagle and half lion; by this form they intended to give an idea of strength and swiftness joined together, with an extraordinary vigilance in guarding the things intrusted to its care. Thus the heathen naturalists persuaded the ignorant, that gold mines were guarded by these creatures with incredible watchfulness and resolution.

GRINDERS. See ANATOMY. GRINDING, the reducing hard substances to fine powders, either by the mortar, or by way of levigation upon a marble.

GRIPE, in the sea-language, is a piece of timber fayed against the lower piece of the stern, from the fore-mast end of the keel, joining with the knee of the head: its use is to defend the lower part of the stern from any injury; but it is often made the larger, to make the ship keep a good wind.

GRIPE is also a sea-term, for a ship's turning her bead more to the wind than she should; this is caused either by overloading her a-head, the weight of which presses her down, so that she will not readily fall off from the wind; or by staying or setting her masts too much aft: which is always a fault in short ships that draw much water, since it causes them to be

continually running into the wind: though in floating ships, if the masts be not stayed very far aft, they will never keep a good wind.

GRISLEA, in botany, a genus of the Octandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Calycanthemæ. Salicariæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx fourcleft; petals four, from the incisures of the calyx; filaments, very long, ascending; capsule globular, superior, one-celled, containing many seeds. There are two species, riz. G. secunda and G. tomentosa, the latter is a beautiful flowering shrub, a native of the hills and valleys through the northern provinces of the Carnatic in the East Indies.

GRIT, a genus of argillaceous earths, with a texture more or less porous, equable and rough to the touch. It neither gives fire with steel, nor effervesces with acids. When fresh and breathed on, it exhales an earthy smell. Its specific gravity varies from 2.0 to 2.6 and is used for mill-stones and whet-stones, and sometimes for filtering-stones and building.

GROMETS, in the sea-language, small rings formerly fastened with staples to the yards, to make fast the gaskets, but now never used.

GRONOVIA, in botany, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Cucurbitaceæ. Essentia! character: petals five, together with the stamens inserted into the bell-shaped corolla; berry dry, inferior, containing one seed. There is but one species, viz. G. scandens, climbing gronovia, an annual plant; sending out many trailing branches like those of the cucumber, closely set with broad leaves, which have a strong smell. Peduncles many flowered, axillary.

GROSS, in law-books, signifies absolute or independent on another: thus, an advowson in gross, is one distinct and separate from the manor.

GROSS BEAK, the English name of a bird called by authors loxia. See LOXIA.

GROSS weight, the whole weight of merchandizes, with their dust and dross: as also the bag or chest wherein they are contained. An allowance is usually made out of the gross-weight for tare and tret. See TARE.

GROTTO, a large deep cavern or den in a mountain or rock. Okey-hole, Eldenhound, Peake's-hole, and Pool's-hole, are famous among the natural caverns or grottos of our country. The entrance to Okey-hole, on the south side of Mendip

hills, is in the fall of those hills, which is beset all about with rocks, and has near it a precipitate descent of near twelve fathoms deep, at the bottom of which there continually issues from the rocks a considerable current of water. The naked rocks above the entrance show themselves about thirty fathoms high, and the whole ascent of the hill above is about a mile, and is very steep. As you pass into this vault, you go at first upon a level, but advancing farther, the way is found to be rocky, and uneven, sometimes ascending, and sometimes descending. The roof of this cavern, in the highest part, is about eight fathoms from the ground, but in many particular places it is so low, that a man must stoop to get along. The breadth is not less various than the height, for in some places it is five or six fathoms wide, and in others not more than one or two. It extends itself in length about two hundred yards. People talk much of certain stones in it, resembling men and women, and other things; but there is little matter of curiosity in these, being only shapeless lumps of a common spar. At the farthest part of the cavern there is a good stream of water, large enough to drive a mill, which passes all along one side of the cavern, and at length slides down about six or eight fathoms among the rocks, and then passing through the clefts of them, discharges itself into the valley. The river within the cavern is well stored with eels, and has some trout in it; and these cannot have come from without, there being so great a fall near the entrance. In dry summers, a great number of frogs are seen along this cavern, even to the farthest part of it; and on the roof of it, at certain places, hang vast numbers of bats, as they do in almost all caverns, the entrance of which is either level, or but slightly ascending or descending; and even in the more perpendicular ones they are sometimes found, provided they are not too narrow, and are sufficiently high. The cattle that feed in the pastures through which this river runs have been known to die suddenly sometimes after a flood; this is probably owing to the waters having been im pregnated, either naturally or accidentally, with lead ore.

Elden-hole is a huge profound perpendicular chasm, three miles from Buxton, ranked among the natural wonders of the Peak. Its depth is unknown, as it is pretended to be unfathomable.

Peak's-hole, and Pool's-hole, are two re

markable horizontal cavities under mountains; the one near Castleton, the other just by Buxton. They seem to have owed their origin to the springs, which have their current through them; when the water had forced its way through the horizontal fissures of the strata, and had carried the loose earth away with it, the loose stones must fall down of course: and where the strata had few or no fissures, they remained intire; and so formed these very irregular arches, which are now so much wondered at. The water which passes through Pool'shole is impregnated with particles of lime. stone, and has incrusted the whole cavern in such a manner that it appears as one solid rock.

Grotto del Cani, is a little cavern near Pozzuoli, four leagues from Naples, the air contained in it, is of a mephitical or noxious quality; it is in truth carbonic acid gas, whence also it is called Bocca Venenosa, the poisonous mouth. "Two miles from Naples (says Dr. Mead,) just by the Lago de Agnano, is a celebrated mofeta, commonly called la Grotta del Cani, and equally destructive to all within the reach of its vapours. It is a small grotto about eight feet high, twelve long, and six broad; from the ground arises a thin, subtile, warm fume, visible enough to a discerning eye, which does not spring up in little parcels here and there, but in one continued stream, covering the whole surface of the bottom of the cave; having this remarkable difference from common vapours, that it does not, like smoke, disperse itself into the air, but quickly after its rise falls back again, and returns to the earth; the colour of the sides of the grotto being the measure of its ascent: for so far it is of a darkishgreen, but higher, only common earth. And as I myself found no inconvenience by standing in it, so no animal, if its head is above this mark, is the least injured. But when, as the manner is, a dog, or any other creature, is forcibly kept below it; or, by reason of its smallness, cannot hold its head above it, it presently loses all motion, falls down as dead, or in a swoon; the limbs convulsed and trembling, till at last no more signs of life appear than a very weak and almost insensible beating of the heart and arteries; which, if the animal is left a little longer, quickly ceases too, and then the case is irrevocable; but if it is snatched out and laid in the open air, it soon comes to life again, and sooner if thrown into the adjacent lake."

GROTTO is also used for a small artificial

edifice made in a garden, in imitation of a natural grotto.

The outsides of these grottos are usually adorned with rustic architecture, and their inside with shell-work, coral, &c. and also furnished with various fountains, and other ornaments.

The following is recommended as a good cement for grotto work. Take two parts of white resin, melt it clear, add to it four parts of bees-wax; when melted together, add some flower of the stone you design to cement, two or three parts, or so much as will give the cement the colour of the stone; to this add one part of the flower of sulphur: first incorporate all together over a gentle fire, and afterwards knead it with your hands in warm water. With this fasten the stones, shells, &c. after they are well dried, and warmed before the fire. GROUND, in painting, the surface upon which the figures and other objects are represented. See PAINTING.

GROUP, in painting and sculpture, is an assemblage of two or more figures of men, beast, fruits, or the like, which have some apparent relation to each other.

Groups, with respect to the design, are combinations of several figures, which bear a relation to each other, either upon account of the action, or of their proximity, or of the effect they produce. These we conceive as representing so many different subjects, or at least so many distinct parts or members of one great subject. Thus, in architecture, we say a group of columns, when we speak of three or four columns standing together on the same pedestal.

Groups, with respect to the clair obscure, are assemblages of figures, where the lights and shadows are diffused in such a manner, that they strike the eye together, and naturally lead it to consider them in one view. GROUP, in music, one of the kinds of diminutions of long notes, which, in work ing, form a sort of group, knot, or bush. It usually consists of four or more crotchets, quavers, &c. tied together at the discretion of the composer.

ceous and woody plants. The roots are sometimes fibrous, and sometimes tuberous. In some species of the oxalis, wood-sorrel, they are jointed; the stems are cylindric, and the young branches in some nearly square; the buds are of a conic form, covered with scales; the leaves in some genera are simple, in others compound; the flowers are hermaphrodite; the calyx consists either of five distinct leaves, or of one leaf divided almost to the bottom into five parts; it generally accompanies the seedbud to its maturity: the petals are five, spreading, and are frequently funnel-shaped; there are generally ten stamens, the anthers oblong, and frequently attached to the filaments by the middle; the seedvessel is commonly a five-cornered capsule, with one, three, five, or ten cells, with one seed in each cell. In this order are the geranium, crane's bill; linum, flax; oxalis, wood-sorrel; guiacum, lignum-vitæ.

GRUS, the crane. See ARDEA.

GRYLLO talpa, the mole cricket, a species of gryllus, with the anterior feet palmated. See the next article.

GRYLLUS, in natural history, the locust, grasshopper, and cricket, a genus of insects belonging to the order Hemiptera. Generic character: head inflected, armed with jaws, and furnished with feelers; antenna, in most species, either filiform or setaceous; wings four, deflex, convoluted; lower wings pleated; hind legs formed for leaping; claws double on all the feet. There are sixty-one species, of which the following are most worthy of notice: 1. Among the most numerous species is the gryllus migratorius of Linnæus, or common migratory locust, which of all the insects capable of injuring mankind seems to pos sess the most dreadful powers of destruction. Legions of these animals are from time to time observed in various parts of the world, where the havock they commit is almost incredible: whole provinces are in a manner desolated by them in the space of a few days, and the air is darkened by their numbers: nay, even when dead, they are still terrible; since the putrefac tion arising from their inconceivable number is such that it has been regarded as as one of the probable causes of pestilence in the eastern regions. This formidable

GRUB, the name of worms produced from the eggs of beetles, which are at length transformed into winged insects of the same species with their parents. GROUSE, a species of the TETRAO, locust is generally of a brownish colour, which see.

GRUINALES, in botany, the name of the fourteenth order of Linnæus's Frag. ments. This order furnishes both herba

varied with pale red, or flesh-colour, and the legs are frequently bluish. In the year 1748, it appeared in irregular flights in several parts of Europe, as in Germany,

France, and England; and in the capital itself, and its neighbourhood, great numbers were seen they perished, however, in a short time, and were happily not productive of any material mischief, having been probably driven by some irregular wind out of their intended course, and weakened by the coolness of our climate. The ravages of locusts in various parts of the world, at different periods, are recorded by numerous authors. In the year 593 of the Christian era, after a great drought, these animals appeared in such vast legions as to cause a famine in many countries. In 677, Syria and Mesopotamia were overrun by them. In 852, immense swarms took their flight from the eastern regions into the west, flying with such a sound that they might have been mistaken for birds; they destroyed all vegetables, not sparing even the bark of trees and the thatch of houses; and devoured the corn so rapidly as to destroy, on computation, a hundred and forty acres in a day their daily marches, or distances, of flight were computed at twenty miles; and these were, regulated by leaders or kings, who flew first and settled on the spot which was to be visited at the same hour the next day by the whole legion: these marches were always undertaken at sun-rise. The locusts were at length driven, by the force of winds, into the Belgic Ocean, and being thrown back by the tide and left on the shores, caused a dread. ful pestilence by their smell. In 1271, all the corn-fields of Milan were destroyed; and in the year 1339, all those of Lombardy. In 1541, incredible hosts afflicted Poland, Wallachia, and all the adjoining territories, darkening the sun with their numbers, and ravaging all the fruits of the earth.

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2. One of the largest species of locust yet known is the gryllus cristatus of Linnæus, which is five or six times the size of the gryllus migratorius; and, together with some others of the larger kind, is made use of in various parts of the world as an article of food. The gryllus cristatus is a highly beautiful animal; being of a bright red, with the body annulated with black, and the legs varied with yellow; the upper wings tesselated with alternate variegations of dark and pale green; the lower with transverse undulated streaks; the length of the animal from head to tail is about four inches; and the expanse of wings from tip to tip, when fully extended, hardly less than seven inches and a half.

3. The gryllus viridissimus of Linnæus, is one of the largest European species, and is often seen during the decline of summer in our own country. It is wholly of a pale grassgreen, with a slight blueish cast on the head and under part of the thorax, which is marked above by a longitudinal reddishbrown line; the length of the insect from the mouth to the tips of the wings is about two inches and a half: the female is distinguished by a long sword-shaped process at the end of the body, being the instrument with which she pierces the ground in order to deposit her eggs; it consists of a pair of valves, through the whole length of which the eggs are protruded; they are of an ob long form, and of a pale brown colour.

4. The gryllus gryllotalpa, or molecricket, is by far the most curious; and in its colour and manners differs greatly from the rest. It is of an unconth and even formidable aspect, measuring more than two inches in length, and is of a broad and slightly flattened shape, of a dusky brown colour, with a ferruginous cast on the under parts, and is readily distinguished by the extraordinary structure of its fore-legs, which are excessively strong, and furnished with very broad feet, divided into several sharp claw-shaped segments, with which it is enabled to burrow under ground in the manner of a mole; the lower wings, which when expanded are very large, are, in their usual state, so complicated under the very short and small upper wings, or sheaths, that their ends alone appear reaching, in a sharpened form, along the middle of the back; the abdomen is terminated by a pair of sharp pointed, lengthened, hairy processes, nearly equalling the length of the antennæ in front, and contributing to give this animal an appearance, in some degree, similar to that of a blatta. The molecricket emerges from its subterraneous retreats only by night, when it creeps about the surface, and occasionally employs its wings in flight. It prepares for its eggs an oval nest, measuring about two inches in its longest diameter; the eggs are about two hundred and fifty or three hundred in number, nearly round, of a deep brownish-yellow colour, and of the size of common shot: on the approach of winter, or any great change of weather, these insects are said to remove the nest, by sinking it deeper, so as to secure it from the power of frost; and when the spring commences again raising it in proportion to the warmth of the season, till at length it is brought so near the sur

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face as to receive the full influence of the air and sun shine; but should unfavourable weather again take place, they again sink the precious deposit, and thus preserve it from danger. The young at their first exclusion are about the size of ants, for which, on a cursory view, they might be mistaken; but on a close inspection are easily known by their broad feet, &c. In about the space of a month they are grown to the length of more than a quarter of an inch; in two months, upwards of three quarters; and in three months, to the length of more than an inch. Of this length they are usually seen during the close of autumn, after which they retire deep beneath the surface; not appearing again till the ensuing spring. During their growth they cast their skin three or four times. The molecricket lives entirely on vegetables, devour ing the young roots of grasses, corn, and various esculent plants, and commits great devastation in gardens.

5. G. tettigonia, or grasshopper, well known in our meadows, belongs to this

genus.

GUAIACUM, in botany, a genus of the Decandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Gruinales. Rutaceæ, Jussien. Essential character: calyx five-cleft, unequal; petals five, inserted into the receptacle; capsule angular, five-celled. There are four species. From the G. officinale, is obtained a resin which exudes spontaneously, and is also driven out artificially by means of heat. This substance has been long known and celebrated as a medicine in various cases; and in the Transactions of the Royal Society for the year 1806, we have a very complete analysis of it: by distillation 100 parts yielded

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ties may be thus enumerated: it is a solid substance resembling a resin; its colour varies, but is generally greenish; it is readily dissolved in alcohol; alkaline solutions dissolve it with ease: most of the acids act upon it with considerable energy; if digested in water, a portion is dissolved, the water acquiring a greenish-brown colour: the liquid being evaporated, leaves a brown substance which possesses the properties of an extract, being soluble in hot water and alcohol, but scarcely at all in sulphuric ether, and forming precipitates with the muriates of alumina, tin, and silver.

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GUANA. See LACERTA.

GUANO, a substance found on many of the small islands in the South Sea, which are the resort of numerous flocks of birds, particularly of the Ardea and Phænicopte rus genus. It is dug from beds fifty or sixty feet thick, and used as a valuable manure in Peru, chiefly for Indian corn. It is of a dirty yellow colour, nearly insipid to the taste, but has a powerful smell, partaking of castor and valerian. According to the analysis of Fourcroy and Vauquelin, about one-fourth of it is uric acid, partly saturated with ammonia and lime. It contains likewise oxalic acid, partly saturated with ammonia and potash; phosphoric acid combined with the same bases and with lime; small quantities of sulphate and mnriate of potash and ammonia; a small portion of fat matter; and sand, partly quartzose, partly ferruginous.

GUARD, in a general sense, signifies the defence or preservation of any thing; the act of observing what passes, in order to prevent surprise; or the care, precaution, and attention we make use of, to prevent any thing happening contrary to our intention or inclinations.

GUARD, in the military art, is a duty performed by a body of men, to secure an army or place from being surprised by an enemy.

In a garrison the guards are relieved every day, and it comes to every soldier's turn once in three days, so that they have two nights in bed, and one upon guard. To be upon guard, to mount the guard, to dismount the guard, to relieve the guard, to change the guard, the officer of the guard, or the serjeant of the guard, are words often used, and well understood.

GUARD, advanced, is a party of either horse or foot, that marches before a more

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