attack of Hermanric, king of the Suevi, and the ravages of this people on the possessions of the Vandals, delayed their departure. Having routed the Suevi in a bloody battle, Genseric embarked his forces, and crossed the straits of Gibraltar. Alani and other barbarian tribes had swelled their numbers to 50,000, and Genseric tried to magnify their appearance by the appointment of 80 chiliarchs; the Moorish inhabitants of the Atlas mountains, so long oppressed by the Roman governors, and the Donatists, driven to despair by the persecutions of the orthodox church, joined them in Africa. Boniface too late repented of his crime; vanquished in battle, he retreated to Hippo Regius (now Bona in Algeria), but being unable to maintain himself he sailed to Italy. The whole of Africa west of Carthage was ceded by a treaty to the Vandals; but that city was also soon taken by surprise, and made the capital of the Vandal empire, which now extended over the whole coast, and by piratical expeditions was established in parts of Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica. The attacks of the Huns in the north of the Roman empire made these aggressions on its southern provinces easier, and it was Genseric who invited Attila to his fatal march to Gallia (451). Rome happily escaped the hands of the Huns, but its weakness and a series of crimes soon gave it into those of the Vandals. Invited, as is said, by Eudoxia, widow of Valentinian III., who wanted to avenge the murder of her husband by Maximus, Genseric crossed the Mediterranean, sailed up the Tiber, took Rome, pillaged it for 14 days, carried away Eudoxia and her daughters, one of whom he gave to his son Hunneric, and the Roman treas ures and captives were sent to Carthage. Thus, after 600 years, a Vandal sword avenged the not less barbarous destruction of Carthage by Scipio. All the shores of the Mediterranean, from Asia Minor and Egypt to the straits of Gibraltar, were now infested by the ravages of the Vandals. A fleet, sent by the emperor Majorian (457) to check these ravages, was destroyed in the bay of Carthagena; nor was another sent by the Byzantine emperor Leo (468) more successful; and Genseric reigned victoriously until his death. He was of middle stature, lame of one leg in consequence of a fall from a horse, slow and cautious in his speech, cunning, treacherous, cruel, ambitious, unscrupulous, an able general, and a skilful ruler. His share in the destruction of the Roman empire ranks him as a conqueror immediately after Alaric the Goth and Attila the Hun. He professed the Arian creed.

GENTIAN, in medicine, the root of the plant gentiana lutea, growing wild in the mountainous portions of Europe, and imported into the United States from Germany. Some other species of the genus are found in certain localities, and are also used for medicinal purposes. One of these, known as the blue gentian (G. Catesbai), is found in the grassy swamps of N. and S. Carolina, and so closely resembles in its proper

ties the officinal gentian, that it is used at the South, and is introduced into the late catalogue of the U. S. pharmacopoeia. Its flowers are blue; those of the foreign gentian are yellow, which is also the color of the powdered root. Both have at first a sweetish taste, followed by intense bitterness; and both yield their medicinal qualities to water and alcohol. The Swiss macerate the plant in cold water, and the sugar it contains causing it to ferment on standing, they distil from it a spirituous liquor, bitter and unpleasant, but much used by them. As a tonic it has been used from remote times, and the name is said to have been given to it from Gentius, a king of Illyria. It is found as an ingredient in many of the ancient receipts transmitted from the Greeks and Romans. It is still used in a great variety of complaints, its effect being to strengthen digestion, excite the circulation, and increase the warmth of the body; but it is liable to disagree with the stomach, exciting nausea and irritating the bowels, and cannot therefore be administered without due reference to the condition of these organs. It is given in powder, in extract, infusion, tincture, or sirup. The powder has been used as an external application to ulcers.

GENTILES (the equivalent of the Heb. and Gr. 8vo), the name by which the Jews distinguished all the other nations or gentes of the world from themselves. In their use of it, it corresponds to our word heathen; for all who were not Jews, and circumcised, they regarded as gentiles or heathen, and as such excluded from all the religious privileges and relations by which they were so greatly exalted. In the writings of St. Paul the gentiles are generally denoted as Greeks. The court of the gentiles about the temple was the outer space, marked off by a wall or balustrade breast high, within which strangers were forbidden to enter, though they might come as far as the barrier to present their offerings. This explains the meaning of Paul, when he speaks of "the middle wall of partition" between Jews and gentiles as being broken down by the gospel.

GENTILESCHI, ORAZIO, whose family name was LOMI, an Italian painter, born in Pisa in 1563, died in London in 1647. At the invitation of Charles I. he took up his residence at the court of England, and was employed to decorate the palace at Greenwich and other public buildings. He was held in such estimation that Vandyke included him in his series of portraits of 100 illustrious men.

GENTLEMAN, an English title, having its equivalent in all the Romance languages, and applied, according to Selden, to one "that either from the blood of his ancestors, or the favour of his soveraigne, or of those that have the vertue of soveraigntie in them, or from his own vertue, employment, or otherwise, according to the customes of honour in his countrie, is ennobled, made gentile, or so raised to an eminencie above the multitude, that by those laws and customes he be truly nobilis, or noble,

whether he have any title, or not, fixed besides on him." This definition would include noblemen, and all above yeomen. In another old English law book, a gentleman is defined to be one who, without any title, bears a coat of arms, or whose ancestors have been freemen;" and according to another: "Whosoever studieth the laws of the realm, who studieth in the universities, who professeth the liberal sciences, and (to be short) who can live idly and without manual labor, and well bear the port, charge, and countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called master and taken for a gentleman." The title is now one of courtesy, and is given in England to any man above the rank of a common tradesman, whose manners and deportment indicate a degree of refinement and intelligence, and whose conduct is regulated by a true principle of honor. The title is so generally and vaguely used in the United States that no exact definition can be given of its meaning, which varies in different classes of society. The laws recognize no such distinction among men, though in legal documents, such as title deeds, a man who has no definite occupation is often styled a gentleman.

GENTOO (Port. gentio, gentile), a term used by old English writers to designate the natives of India. It is now obsolete, having been long superseded in popular use by Hindoo.

GENTRY, a N. W. co. of Mo., bordering on Iowa, intersected by Grand river, and drained by its E. and W. forks; area, 770 sq. m.; pop. in 1856, 8,781, of whom 69 were slaves. In 1850 it produced 160,523 bushels of Indian corn, 17,045 of wheat, 23,864 of oats, and 11,582 lbs. of wool. Named in honor of Col. Richard Gentry, who fell at the battle of Okeechobee, Florida, in 1837. Capital, Gentry Court House.

GENTZ, FRIEDRICH VON, a German diplomatist and publicist, born in Breslau in 1764, died June 9, 1832. He studied at Berlin and Königsberg, and was secretary to the directory of finances at Berlin when the French revolution broke out, of which he was from the beginning an ardent opponent. In 1792 he translated into German Burke's famous pamphlet on this subject, adding many violent notes to it. In 1802 he passed into the service of Austria, and after being sent to England to negotiate an alliance, drew up the Austrian manifesto of 1805. After the peace of Presburg he returned to Berlin, and after the disaster at Jena retired again to Vienna, where he composed the eloquent Austrian manifesto of 1809. He took part in the conferences of Vienna, and assisted in drawing up the treaty of the holy alliance. He wrote upon the morality of revolutions, the declaration of the rights of men, the principles of the French revolution, and the finances and national wealth of Great Britain. In literature he sympathized with the romantic school of Germany, and in politics defended absolutism.

GENUS, a closely allied group of animals or plants, characterized by ultimate structural

peculiarities. The higher relations of animals and plants, from branches to families, have been treated in the article FAMILY. Great confusion prevails among describers in the formation of genera, from their considering form and complication of structure as generic characters, whereas the former is characteristic of families, and the latter of orders; hence generic, family, and ordinal characters are mixed up in the determinations of almost all naturalists from Linnæus to the present time, and genera have been unnecessarily and absurdly multiplied. Genera are subdivisions of families, and species are subdivisions of genera; the former, as has been stated, are limited by ultimate structural peculiarities, while the latter bear a closer relation to each other and to their special localities, their existence being also confined within a definite period. Generic peculiarities extend to the most minute details of structure of teeth, hair, scales, cerebral convolutions, distribution of vessels, arrangement of intestinal folds and appendages, and microscopic anatomy of the organs; so complete is this identity of structure that (in the words of Agassiz, "Essay on Classification," part i. chap. 1) if an animal were "submitted to the investigation of a skilful anatomist, after having been mutilated to such an extent that none of its specific characters could be recognized, yet not only its class, or its order, or its family, but even its genus, could be identified as precisely as if it were perfectly well preserved in all its parts." Every species of the genus vulpes (fox), for example, has the same dental formula, toes and claws, and other generic characters, whether arctic, tropic, or temperate, American, European, or Asiatic, in its habitat. Genera may or may not resemble each other in form; they usually have a wide geographical range, and, like the higher as well as lower relations among animals, are entirely unmodified in their characters by physical and external agencies. In the sauroid family of the ganoid fishes, for instance, we have the genera lepidosteus (gar pike) and polypterus; in the former, among the generic characters, are the narrow lengthened jaws, branchiostegous membrane with 3 rays, single dorsal fin near the tail, 1st ray of all the fins covered with imbricated serrated scales, caudal fin attached to the under side of the vertebral column, half gill on the gill cover, swimming bladder entirely cellular in 2 lateral halves communicating with the upper wall of the oesophagus, a slight spiral intestinal valve, and many pancreatic cæca; in the latter the head is oval and rounded anteriorly, 2 cirri above the mouth, 2 spiracles on the sides of the head, a very complicated nasal apparatus, branchiostegous membrane with a single flat ray, caudal fin rounded, numerous dorsal fins, no gill or gill cover, swimming bladder sacciform, not cellular, with fine internal longitudinal folds, and opening on the under side of the oesophagus, a well marked spiral valve, and a single pancreatic cæcum. generic distinctions of the testudinata, or tor

The

toises, both land and marine, founded principally on the characters of the skull, jaws, skin, and feet (see Agassiz, "Natural History of the United States," vol. i.), give an admirable idea of what constitutes a genus, as distinguished from families and orders.

of

GEOCENTRIC (Gr. yn, earth, and Kevтpov, centre), having the earth as its centre or point reference; a term used chiefly in astronomy. GEODE, a hollow shell of stone, commonly of quartz, found in various rocks, and usually lined with crystals pointing toward the centre. These crystals are for the most part of quartz, often amethystine. Among the amygdaloids of the trap are found geodes of agate and chalcedony, the shell made up of concentric layers of these variously colored silicious matters. Beside quartz crystals, others of calcareous spar, analcime, &c., are found in the cavities of geodes. Some of the most remarkable specimens of this kind in the quartz geodes are found in low stages of water loose in the rapids of the upper Mississippi river. Externally they are rough and unsightly, of light brown color, and of all sizes up to 12 or 15 inches in diameter; when broken they present beautiful groups of quartz crystals. Water is sometimes found in the geodes holding the silex in solution, and making with it a milky looking mixture. As the water evaporates the silex has been known to suddenly form into delicate crystals. Such geodes were at one time abundantly found on Briar creek in Scriven or Burke co., Ga., in a rock composed of hornstone and jasper; the milky fluid contained in them was used by the inhabitants as a paint or whitewash. (“American Journal of Science," vol. viii. p. 286.)

GEODESY (Gr.yn, earth, and daiw, to divide), the science and art of laying out divisions of the earth's surface upon a large scale. It differs from ordinary surveying in its measurements being constantly referred to the spherical surface upon which they are made, and reduced to the same horizontal level. Corrections also are made for horizontal parallax in computing the value of instrumental observations, and the calculus of probabilities is applied to resolve their differences. Its object may even be the determination of the spherical curvature of portions of the surface, which is accomplished by the aid of extended series of astronomical observations made in connection with the most exact measurements. The methods of conducting these operations and contending with the numerous causes of error, incident to the imperfection and comparative insignificance of the instruments and powers employed, are treated in the article on the U. S. COAST SURVEY, which is the most perfect as it is the latest example of large geodetical operations.

GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH, an old English chronicler, born probably in Monmouth about 1100, died about 1154. He is supposed to have received his education in the Benedictine monastery near Monmouth, where he compiled his Chronicon sive Historia Brittonum, to which

he probably owed his promotion in 1152 to the see of St. Asaph. Geoffrey's chronicle professes to be a translation from an old Welsh manuscript which one Walter Calenius, an archdeacon of Oxford, discovered in Brittany, and which he requested him to render into Latin. That some part of the work is a translation there seems to be no doubt, as its main features agree with the history of Nennius, written 3 centuries previous; but so numerous are the legends and fables interwoven into it, and so extensive is the period it embraces-from Brut the great-grandson of Eneas to the death of Cadwallader or Ceadwalla, king of Wessex, in 688-that its historical value is very inconsiderable. If historians are inclined to doubt the veracity of Geoffrey, the readers of romance are indebted to him for having preserved and perhaps reconstructed the delightful legends of Arthur and his knights, the romantic fairy pageantry of which can be traced through so many centuries of English poetry. The work was originally divided into 8 books, to which Geoffrey added the book of Merlin's "Prophecies." The best recent editions are those of J. A. Giles (1842), and Bohn (1848), both of which are reprints from a translation by Aaron Thompson originally published in 1718.

GEOFFROY, JULIEN LOUIS, a French critic, born in Rennes in 1743, died in Paris, Jan. 26, 1814. A pupil of the Jesuits, he was first a tutor in the Montaigu college, then in a private family, and commenced his literary career with a tragedy never performed nor printed. In 1776 he was appointed professor of rhetoric in the college of Navarre at Paris, and soon left it to occupy the same chair in the Mazarin college. About the same time he became a contributor to the Année littéraire, a review founded in 1754 by Fréron, and he continued to write for it for 15 years. From 1781 he also published another literary periodical called Journal de Monsieur; and in 1790 he undertook, in conjunction with Montjoie and the brothers Royou, the publication of an ultra-monarchical daily paper, L'ami du roi, which was discontinued Aug. 10, 1792. In order to avoid the dangers incurred from his monarchical opinions, Geoffroy left Paris, and became a schoolmaster in some obscure village. He returned to the metropolis after the 18th Brumaire (1799), attempted to resuscitate the Année littéraire, and became attached to the Journal des débats as literary critic. Theatricals were his especial province; and his feuilletons, in which he displayed great scholarship and bitter sarcasm, enjoyed unparalleled success. His articles were collected and published in 1819-'20 under the title of Cours de littérature dramatique.

GEOFFROY SAINT HILAIRE, ÉTIENNE, a French zoologist, born in Etampes, April 15, 1772, died in Paris, June 19, 1844. He was first educated for an ecclesiastical life, but early evinced a taste for natural philosophy, and was encouraged by Haûy and Daubenton to follow his inclination. He had already gained

a

some proficiency as a minera.ogist when the revolution broke out. Haüy having been incarcerated as a recusant priest, his pupil managed to procure his liberation, and at the peril of his life he rescued 12 other priests from prison, on the very eve of the massacre of Sept. 1792. A few months later he was appointed to a subordinate office in the jardin des plantes, and in 1793, on the reorganization of this establishment under the name of "Museum of Natural History," he was promoted to the professorship of zoology, and of course in trusted with the keeping of the collections. To this twofold task he devoted himself entirely; but while he succeeded as a lecturer, he accomplished wonders in his other functions. Through his unfailing zeal and exertions, the old specimens were put in order, new ones were procured from every part of the world, and finally the zoological collections, under his supervision, became the richest in the world. In 1795 he welcomed to Paris, and treated as a brother, George Cuvier, then entirely unknown to fame; both in concert pursued researches in comparative anatomy, and at that time each of them had but a faint conception of the opposite systems upon which they were to separate some 35 years later. In 1798 Geoffroy consented to be one of the scientific commission that accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt; remaining there until the surrender of Alexandria in 1801, he was one of the founders and most active members of the Egyptian institute, thoroughly explored the country, gathered valuable collections of natural specimens, and succeeded in bringing them to France; he threatened to burn them all rather than deliver them into the hands of the English, as the terms of capitulation required. The papers in which he described these specimens attracted general attention, and resulted in his election to the academy of sciences in 1807. The next year he went on a scientific mission to Portugal, and on his return he was appointed to the professorship of zoology in the faculty of science at Paris, which post he filled for years simultaneously with that at the museum. From 1812 to 1815 his scientific occupations were partly interrupted by sickness and political activity. He was a member of the chamber of deputies during the Hundred Days; but on the second restoration he returned to his wonted pursuits, and then commenced the unfolding of his philosophical system. He applied himself to demonstrating the principle of which Buffon and Goethe had had but a glimpse, the unity of organic composition among the various kinds of animals; and he founded what he called the "theory of analogues." The unity of composition, according to his idea, is the law of identity in the materials composing the organs of animals of different families, and which, although infinitely varying in shape, bulk, and use, are still the same in all, and discover a single plan; while the theory of analogues is the method through which the unity of composition is demonstrated. As to

the unequal sizes among the various creatures, and monstrosities in individuals, they are explained by the principle of arrest of development. These principles, at once bold and original, were in direct contradiction to those which Cuvier had adopted as the basis of his comparative anatomy; and this opposition, which had been silently going on for years, at last broke out openly, July, 1830, in the sittings of the academy of sciences. The contest between two illustrious champions, well armed with all the resources which science, experience, and talent could afford, caused a deep sensation throughout the scientific world of Europe; and in the estimation of Goethe, it was far more important to humanity than the political revolution that was going on at the same time. Notwithstanding the superiority of Cuvier as an orator and scientific expounder, the victory was left undecided, and many among the learned sided with Geoffroy, whom the great German poet hailed as an apostle of the true synthetic doctrine. Whatever may have been his faults, he is incontrovertibly, after his opponent and friend Cuvier, one of the most important contributors to the advancement of the science and philosophy of natural history. His views contain much of the transcendental element of the German physio-philosophers, and, if carried to their legitimate conclusions, lead to doctrines directly opposed to the prevalent philosophy of final causes; his ideas will be further elaborated in the article PHILOSOPHICAL ANATOMY. Among his numerous works and papers, which embrace nearly all branches of zoology, we refer specially to the following: Philosophie anatomique (2 vols. 8vo., 1818-22), which contains the exposition of his doctrine; Principes de la philosophie zoologique (8vo., 1830), which gives a synopsis of his discussions with Cuvier; Études progressives d'un naturaliste (4to., 1835); Notions de philosophie naturelle (8vo., 1838); Fragments biographiques (8vo., 1838); Histoire naturelle des mammifères, in conjunction with Frédéric Cuvier (fol., 1820-'42). He also contributed to several great publications, and especially to the description of Egypt by the scientific commission of which he was a member. It was not till 1840 that he gave up active life on account of blindness; a few months later he had a stroke of paralysis; but he withstood his last sufferings with admirable equanimity. His eulogy was delivered by M. Flourens in 1852 at the academy of sciences; an excellent biography had been previously published by his son under the title Vie, travaux et doctrine scientifique d'É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (Paris, 1848). ISIDORE, a French zoologist, son of the preceding, born in Paris, Dec. 16, 1805. Under the direction of his father he early devoted himself to natural philosophy, became assistant naturalist at the museum when only 19 years old, and in 1830 delivered zoological lectures in that institution as his father's substitute. Three years later he was elected to the academy of sciences. He was then

publishing a great work in which he enlarged upon a branch of the natural system outlined by his father; this was his Histoire générale et particulière des anomalies de l'organisation chez l'homme et les animaux, ou traité de tératologie (3 vols. 8vo., with an atlas, 1832-7). On its completion he was appointed assistant lecturer to his father at the faculty of sciences, afterward filled some important offices in the university, and finally in 1850 resigned the post of general inspector to resume the chair of zoology, to which he was then formally appointed. He has since devoted his leisure to publishing his Histoire naturelle générale des règnes organiques, which was commenced in 1852, and is still in progress, and is to be completed in 5 vols. 4to. He has also paid much attention to the domestication of foreign animals in France, as appears from his treatise, Domestication et naturalisation des animaux utiles (Paris, 1854), and has advocated the use of horse flesh as food in his Lettres sur les substances alimentaires, et particulièrement sur la viande de cheval (Paris, 1856). GEOGNOSY (Gr. yn, the earth, and yvwois, knowledge), the science of the structure of the earth; a term introduced by Werner, for which the synonymous term geology has since been substituted. Dr. Whewell suggests that in adopting the name geognosy, the knowledge of the earth, instead of geology, the Wernerians appear to have intended to select descriptive geology for their peculiar field.

GEOGRAPHY (Gr. yn, the earth, and ypaw, to write), the description of the earth. The science of geography comprises 3 principal divisions: mathematical geography, physical geography, and political geography. Mathematical geography treats of the figure, magnitude, and motion of the earth, of the construction of globes, and the solution of problems; of the mode of determining the position of places on the earth's surface, and of representing any portion of that surface on maps or charts. Most of these topics belong as much to astronomy as to geography. (See ASTRONOMY, and EARTH.) Physical geography treats of the earth and its features of land, water, and air, its animal and vegetable inhabitants, without reference to national or political divisions. (See PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.) Political geography describes the countries and nations of the earth as they are politically divided, and deals with mankind in their social aspect and organization. The details of this branch of the science will be found under the names of the various countries, cities, and towns of the globe. -Among the ancients, the Phoenicians were the first who made any great progress in extending the bounds of geographical knowledge. They seem to have explored all the coast of the Mediterranean, and at an early period to have passed the strait of Gibraltar, and visited to some extent the Atlantic shores of Europe and Africa, extending their voyages northward as far as Britain and southward to the tropic of Capricorn. Their neighbors, the Hebrews, probably acquired from them some knowledge of distant lands. In VOL. VIII.-10

the Scriptures the remotest regions mentioned are, to the N., Gomer (Gen. x.), by which was probably meant the Kimmerii of Herodotus, and Kir, the Caucasian region of the Kur; to the E., India (Esther i. 1), and very probably China, called the distant "land of Sinim" (Isaiah xlix. 12); to the S., Cush (Ethiopia), Ludim or Lubim (Libya), Dedan, Sheba, and Ophir, concerning whose situation many conjectures have been made, the most probable of which seems to be that it was a place in southern Asia. To the W., the extreme land was Tarshish, which was probably Tartessus in Spain, though some critics suppose it to have been Carthage. The first attempt to enlarge the bounds of geographical knowledge by an exploring expedition was made by Necho, king of Egypt, about 604 B. C. He sent down the Red sea into the Indian ocean a fleet manned by Phoenicians, which in the third year, after circumnavigating Africa, reached the pillars of Hercules or strait of Gibraltar, and returned to Egypt by the Mediterranean. Herodotus, who relates this extraordinary voyage, expresses his disbelief of the circumstance which to modern science affords the strongest proof that it really took place. The Phoenicians on their return asserted that during a part of the voyage the sun was in the north. This statement, which shows conclusively that they must have sailed to the south of the equator, Herodotus, naturally enough, wholly discredited. The geographical knowledge of the ancients was greatly enlarged by the Carthaginians, whose extended commerce led necessarily to long voyages, but the only authentic account of any of their maritime expeditions which has reached us is that of Hanno, the time of which is uncertain, but is plausibly conjectured to have been in the 5th century B. C. With a fleet of 60 vessels he passed the strait of Gibraltar, and sailed down the coast of Africa, as some writers suppose, to the gulf of Benin, while according to others he proceeded no further than the river Nun. About 320 B. C., Pytheas, a seaman of Massilia, the modern Marseilles, sailed out into the Atlantic, coasted the shores of Spain and Gaul, visited Britain, and passing onward, discovered an island, which from that time was famous among the ancients as Ultima Thule. It has been conjectured that this was Iceland, but nothing certain is known about it. The Indian expedition of Alexander the Great, 330 B. C., greatly enlarged the ancient knowledge of India. He penetrated to the Hyphasis, the modern Sutlej, the most eastern and most important of the 5 rivers which flow through the Punjaub. The ambassadors of Seleucus, one of his successors, reached the Ganges and visited the city of Palimbothra, which was probably on the site of the modern Allahabad. Beyond this the Greeks seem to have known little or nothing of eastern Asia. The first systematic attempt at scientific geography was made by Eratosthenes, who lived between 276 and 196 B. C., and was an eminent scholar at Alexandria in the reign of Ptolemy III. The globular form