337 



GENII. 



GENTIANA LUTEA. 



338 



chemical agents as sulphate of zinc, caustic potash, and sulphuric acid, 

 are added; but this is usually for some fraudulent purpose. It is 

 believed that London gin, as retailed, is more frequently adulterated 

 than any other ; because there is a taste in the metropolis for sweetened 

 gin ; and the addition of sugar masks the taste of some strong substance 

 which has'been added to facilitate a large dilution with water. 



The processes of manufacturing these various kinds of spirit are 

 described under DISTILLERY. 



The importation of geneva, so called in the official returns, has 

 varied in the last fifteen years from 130,000 to 430,000 gallons per 

 annum ; but there are other kinds, called " other foreign and colonial 

 spirits," distinct from geneva, rum, and brandy, of which quantities 

 have been imported varying fmm 30,000 to 1,100,000 gallons annually, 

 and which are probably varieties of corn-spirit. This last-named entry 

 has rapidly increased within the last few years. The computed real 

 value of the geneva and corn-spirit imported in 1858 was about 

 130,000t The British spirit charged with home duty, most of which 

 is either gin or whiskey, has varied from 20,000,000 to 26,000,000 

 gallons yearly in the last few years. The difference between gin and 

 whiskey, chemically and commercially, is noticed under DISTILLERY. 



GENII, called in the East Ginn or Djinn, are supposed to be a race 

 of beings created from fire, capable of assuming any form and be- 

 coming invisible at pleasure. All Moslems are obliged to believe in 

 their existence, since they are said in the Koran (c. vi.) to be created 

 by God. It is imagined that they inhabited this world many ages 

 before man was created, and were governed by forty successive 

 monarchs of the name of Solomon, the last of whom was called Gan 

 Ebn Gan, and that from him they derived their name. It is also said 

 that they frequently rebelled against God, who at length deprived 

 them of their possessions and gave them to man. We learn from the 

 Koran (c. 72) that many of these wicked spirits were converted by 

 hearing Mohammed reading a portion of it, and that those who continue 

 unbelievers (called, in c. 27, Ifrtt) will be condemned to the fires of 

 hell. They are believed to take great interest in human affairs, and to 

 be the authors of much happiness and misery to mankind. (An inter- 

 esting account of the superstitions of the modern Arabs respecting 

 Genii is given in Lane's ' Modern Egyptians.') The belief in such an 

 intermediary class of beings between divinity and humanity has been 

 very extensive. The Greeks had their Soi/urni; the Romans their 

 Genii [GENIUS] ; the Chinese have their good and evil beings, and 

 every town or province chooses one for its protector, to whom the 

 governor prays, on his admittance to office, for support and assistance 

 in bis charge; and the Africans have their fetishes. It must be 

 admitted, however, that none are so fanciful and poetical as the genii 

 of the orientals. 



The Roman genii are represented in works of art as winged figures ; 

 they are frequently figured contending in chariot races : in friezes 

 in the British Museum their chariots are drawn by dogs, but they 

 often are seen driving horses. Genii are commonly introduced by 

 sculptors on monuments, &c. ; sometimes they carry a cornucopia ; 

 at others they support the portrait of the deceased, or bear his 

 ariMur, Ac- 



GENITIVE. [ABLATIVE CASE.] 



GENIUS, in its original acceptation, denoted the tutelary god or 

 d;cmon which, according to an ancient and common superstition, was 

 allotted to every individual at his birth, to guide and rule him during 

 life, to preside over his fortunes and destiny, and eventually to lead 

 him from existence ; and it was supposed that the variety observable 

 in the characters and capacities of different men was dependent upon 

 the higher or lower nature of their attendant genii. Afterwards the 

 word came to signify the disposition itself, without reference to it-i 

 supposed cause ; and lastly, in modern times it has been employed, in 

 a restricted but peculiar sense, to designate either that high mental 

 pre-eminence which is occasionally found in a few individuals, or, by a 

 metonymy, the person possessed of such rare excellence. 



Like every thing else that is truly beautiful and great, Genius has in 

 it a something undefinable ; and hence the variety of notions as to its 

 origin and nature, in all of which there is and must be something 

 deficient. Dr. Johnson's definition (' Life of Cowley,') is this : "The 

 true genius is a mind of large general powers accidentally determined in 

 some particular direction." Generally it is understood to be the per- 

 fection of human intelligence. And as this consists in the highest 

 possible activity of the mental energies, genius is essentially creative, 

 and all its productions are indelibly stamped with the impress of 

 originality and grandeur. It is at once a law and a model to itself ; it 

 produces what has never before been accomplished, and which all, in 

 all ages, are constrained to admire. It receives therefore its impulse 

 from enthusiasm, for nothing great can be accomplished without that 

 enthusiasm which is enkindled by some dominant idea, to which all 

 else is made subordinate and postponed ; and its chief faculties 

 arc the reason and the imagination* which alone are inventive and 

 tive. 



But according as one or other of these faculties predominates, genius 

 becomes either scientific, artistic, or poetic. In the first case it seizes 

 at once those hidden affinities which otherwise do not reveal them- 

 selves, except to the most patient and rigorous application ; and as it 

 Were intuitively recognising in phenomena the unalterable and eternal, 

 it produce* truth. In the two latter, seeking to exhibit its own ideal 



ABTS ASD scr. crv. VOL. iv, 



in due and appropriate forms, it realises the infinite under finite types, 

 and so creates the beautiful. 



But even the most eminent genius must duly form and develope itself 

 by a careful contemplation of the beautiful and true which the great 

 geniuses of past time may have created and discovered. It is by 

 looking exclusively to this circumstance, that those who deny any 

 original inequality among men have been led to maintain that what is 

 called genius is simply a result of education and culture ; while on the 

 other hand an equally partial consideration of those extraordinary 

 powers which have occasionally been exhibited in totally uneducated 

 minds, and under the most unfavourable circumstances, has deceived 

 the zealous partisans of original genius. 



In active life the grand and ambitious designs of successful states- 

 men and conquerors are often ascribed to genius, but they belong more 

 properly to the energy of the will than to that of the intellect, to force 

 of character rather than to power of mind. 



The phrase " universal genius," in order to be legitimate, requires to 

 be limited in one or other of its terms. When applied to a Fontenelle 

 we must restrict the signification of genius to the power and capacities 

 of the human mind in general ; and it is only by confining the term 

 universal to all the subordinate branches either of art or science, that 

 it is even allowable to ascribe it to the genius of a Shakspere, a Michel 

 Angelo, or a Leil >uitz. 



Genius and fancy are often confounded : the latter is undeniably a 

 pre-eminent capacity, but it exerts itself rather to imitate than to 

 invent, and is devoid <*f all enthusiasm. 



GENOUILLERE. This is the term applied in fortification to that 

 portion of the interior slope of the parapet, which is below the sill of 

 the embrasure and in front of and covering the gun-carriage. 



GENTIA'NA LU'TEA, a perennial plant, common in the moun- 

 tainous and sub-alpine districts of Switzerland, Germany, &c. Though 

 the whole plant is bitter, yet as this property is most concentrated 

 in the root, that part only is officinal. The root should be taken up in 

 autumn, and is best when the plant is only one year old. It is 

 generally cylindrical, often an inch thick at the summit, but below 

 rather branched, of a dark or brown colour externally ; internally fleshy 

 and yellow. In commerce it is met with in pieces, cut longitudinally, 

 from six inches to a foot in length. A transverse section displays 

 three distinct circles. The greater portion is procured from Ger- 

 many ; the specimens from Switzerland are generally thicker and 

 darker coloured. 



When fresh it has some smell, which is almost entirely lost by 

 drying. The taste is at first somewhat sweet, then purely and strongly 

 bitter. According to the analysis of Henry and Caveutou, it contains 

 a principle termed Gentianin, which in crystallisable ; a volatile 

 odorous principle, a greenish fixed oil, a free organic acid, uncrystal- 

 lisable sugar, gum, colouring matter, &c. The oil is in very minute 

 proportion ; three cicti. yield only half a drachm of oil. The so-called 

 geutiamn consists of two distinct principles : one tasteless and 

 crystalline, yentisin or f/entisic acid, the other bitter gentianite. 



Owing to its saccharine matter it soon moulds in a damp place, and 

 should therefore be kept in a dry airy situation. From the abundance 

 of the sugar, it is easily susceptible of fermentation, and from it is 

 distilled a spirit, called Enziangeist, or " bitter snaps," much employed 

 by the peasants on the Swiss Alps to fortify the system against the 

 fogs and damps of these lofty regions. Strangers should be sparing in 

 the use of this, as it contains a narcotic principle in addition to the 

 spirit. 



Yellow gentian-root is often confounded with the roots of other 

 species of this genus, a circumstance attended with no bad conse- 

 quences, but unfortunately roots of very poisonous plants, growing in 

 the same locality, are often taken up instead of the proper one ; these 

 are, t&e Veratruin album (white hellebore), the leaves of which resemble 

 those of gentian in their peculiar venation, but are alternate, while 

 those of gentian are opposite the root is very different, and besides 

 this, it contains Veretria ; and the Atropa Belladonna (deadly night- 

 shade), which, besides differences in the physical characters, is devoid 

 of the peculiar bitter of gentian, and acquires a bluish-black colour 

 from tincture of iodine. The roots of Aconitum Lycoctouum and 

 Ranunculus Thora are occasionally confounded with gentian-root. 



Gentian-root is a pure and excellent bitter tonic, useful in all cases 

 of debility, whether of the stomach only, or of the system generally. 

 It possesses facilities, from not being decomposed, of being adminis- 

 tered along with many metallic salts. It yields its properties to 

 water, particularly when warm, to alcohol, and to wine. The simple 

 infusion, and not the compound, of the ' London Pharmacopoeia ' 

 should be employed, when any salts of iron are prescribed in the same 

 formula. The extract .is an eligible means of giving bulk, when 

 several antispasmodic remedies, of which the dose is minute, are to be 

 made into pills, such as oxide of zinc, protosulphate of iron, or extract 

 of aconite. In the West Indies a preparation of gentian is used daily 

 before meals, to give tone to the languid stomach. Stoughton's 

 elixir, which is what is commonly used for this purpose, is only a 

 quackish imitation of the compound tincture of gentian of the 

 Pharmacopoeia. 



In the East Indies several species are used as bitter tonics. The 

 Chirayita, or Chiretta, in the form of a cold infusion, is much prized 

 for its tonic and febrifugal virtues. Guibourt contends that this plant 



