260 



GLTJKHOV 



GLYCERINE 



to which they export, a first-class glue is absolutely 

 necessary. Besides its use in joinery, cabinet- 

 making, book-binding, match-making, and similar 

 operations, glue is used by paper-makers and in 

 dressing silks; and for these last two purposes 

 fine light-coloured kinds in thin cakes are made. 

 Large quantities are employed by paper-hangers 

 and others for sizing walls. It is also used for 

 stiffening straw, cotton, horsehair, and other plaits 

 for making bonnets and hats. See Dawidowsky, 

 Glue, Gelatine, &c. (Eng. trans. 1884). 



Marine Glue is not a glue, but a cementing 

 composition used in shipbuilding, for payingseams 

 in ships' decks after being caulked. In hot climates 

 it is preferred to tar for this and other purposes, 

 where the materials are exposed to the influence of 

 wet. It consists of india-rubber cut very small, and 

 digested at a gentle heat in a closed vessel with coal- 

 tar naphtha until it is dissolved, when powdered 

 shell-lac is added, and the digestion continued until 

 it also is dissolved. 



Glukhov. See GLUCHOV. 



Glume, a term applied to certain bracts in 

 grasses and sedges (which are sometimes conjoined 

 as Glumiferse). See GRASSES, CYPERACE.E. 



Gluten is one of the most important con- 

 stituents of the varieties of corn used as food. It 

 is obtained by mixing flour with water, and thus 

 forming a paste or dough. This paste is placed in 

 a bag of fine linen, and kneaded in water, which 

 must be repeatedly changed till it ceases to assume 

 a milky appearance. A gray, tenacious, viscous, 

 tasteless substance, having the appearance of bird- 

 lime, is left in the bag. This substance consists 

 mainly of gluten, mixed with traces of bran starch 

 and of oily matter. The gluten thus obtained from 

 wheat and from rye is far more tenacious than 

 that which is obtained from the other cereals, 

 and it is the great tenacity of this constituent 

 that especially fits these flours for conversion into 

 bread. It is found by analysis that the. propor- 

 tion of gluten ( 16 per cent. ) contained in wheat 

 grown in Algeria and other hot countries is con- 

 siderably higher than in wheat grown in England 

 ( 10'7 per cent.), or still colder countries; the pro- 

 portion in the wheat of the United States seems 

 to vary from 9 - 85 to as much as 15 '25 per cent. ; 

 and the hard, thin-skinned wheats contain more 

 of this ingredient than the softer varieties of the 

 grain. 



Gluten in a moist state rapidly putrefies, the 

 mass acquiring the smell of decaying cheese ; but 

 when dry it forms a hard, brownish, horny-looking 

 mass, that does not very readily decompose. On 

 treating gluten with hot alcohol, we find that it 

 resolves itself into at least two distinct substances, 

 one of which is soluble, and the other insoluble in 

 that fluid. The insoluble portion vegetable fibrin 

 is a gray, tough, elastic substance, insoluble in 

 water or in ether, but readily soluble in dilute 

 alkalies, from which it is precipitated by neutral- 

 isation with acetic acid. The soluble portion is in 

 part precipitated from the alcohol on cooling, in 

 the form of flakes, which have the composition and 

 properties of casein a vegetable casein ; while a 

 third substance, gliadin, remains in solution, giving 

 to the alcohol a syrupy consistence, but separating 

 on the addition of water, as a white substance 

 resembling albumen. All these constituents of 

 gluten contain carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, 

 and sulphur, in much the same proportion as the 

 animal albumin ates or protein bodies, and they all 

 doubtless belong to the flesh-forming group of 

 foods. 



The action of gluten in the manufacture of bread 

 is probably a double one ; it induces, by constant 

 action, an alteration of the starch, and subsequent 



fermentation, while by its tenacity it prevents the 

 escape of carbonic acid gas. See BREAD. 



Glutton ( Gulo ), a carnivorous quadruped be- 

 longing to the weasel family (Mustelidse). There 

 are three false molars in the upper, and four in the 

 lower jaw, anterior to the carnassial tooth, which 

 is large and sharp. The body is long about 2 

 feet 6 inches the legs are short, the feet have 

 each five deeply-divided toes, terminated by long 

 curved claws. The tail is rather short about 7 

 or 8 inches ; a fold beneath the tail supplies the 

 place of the glandular pouch of the badgers ; but 

 when hard pressed by enemies the gluttons emit a 

 peculiar fluid of a strong musky odour. Their 

 habits are nocturnal. Both body and tail are 

 covered with long hair, under which the body is 

 covered with a rich thick fur. The general colour of 

 the long hair is brown, sometimes approaching to 

 black, lighter bands passing from the neck along 

 the flanks, and meeting at the tail. The short fin- 

 is chestnut brown. The muzzle is black. A light- 

 brown band runs across the forehead from ear to 

 ear. The fur of the glutton is sometimes of con- 

 siderable value, and is used for mutt's, cloaks, &c., 



The Glutton ( Gulo luscus ). 



but varies not a little in glossiness and other 

 qualities (see FURS, Wolverine). There is only one 

 species, commonly called Glutton, and also Wol- 

 verine ( G. luscus), a native of the northern parts of 

 Europe, Asia, and America. It is more common in 

 the arctic regions than towards the southern limits 

 of its distribution, which are about the forests of 

 Corn-land, in Europe, and northern California, in 

 America. The most extraordinary stories were at 

 one time credited concerning the ferocity, voracity, 

 and cunning of this animal, though in captivity it 

 has been known to overcome and kill a large polar 

 bear (1897 ) ; it is very capable of domestication, and 

 even in a wild state exhibits no remarkable ferocity ; 

 nor is there any reason to believe that it leaps from 

 trees on deer, or pursues any of those artful method* 

 of procuring food which were once ascribed to it It 

 often preys on animals which it has not itself 

 killed. The smaller quadrupeds are its principal 

 food, and it devours young foxes in great numbers. 

 Its speed is not great, but it excels in strength and 

 perseverance. The traps set for the smaller kinds 

 of animals e.g. martens in the fur countries of 

 North America are very often robbed by the 

 wolverine, and it has been known to remove a 

 great pile of wood in order to get at provisions 

 which had been hidden under it. Closely allied 

 to the glutton are the grison, the badger, the otter, 

 and the ratel. Bone-caves and some of the 

 newest deposits exhibit remains of more than one 

 species of glutton. 



Glycerine, GLYCEROL, or PROPENYL ALCOHOL, 

 C 3 H 5 (OH) S) was discovered by Scheele in 1779, who 

 obtained it in the preparation of lead-plaster, and 

 named it 'the sweet principle of fats.' It is a 

 colourless, viscid, neutral, inodorous fluid, of an 

 intensely sweet taste, is soluble in water and 

 I alcohol in all proportions, but is insoluble in ether 



