GENEVA SPIRIT 



3465 



GENOA 



entitled. As a compliment to Swit- 

 zerland the heraldic emblem of a 

 red cross on a white ground, formed 

 by reversing the federal colours, is 

 to be used as the distinctive sign of 

 the medical service of all armies. 

 The medical personnel must wear a 

 brassard " fixed " on the left arm 

 and any civilian assistants must, 

 in addition, hold certificates of 

 identity. 



The use of the Red Cross as a 

 trade mark is forbidden by the 

 convention, and Great Britain in 

 1911 passed the Geneva Conven- 

 tion Act, which makes it unlawful 

 to adopt for any purpose the em- 

 blem, or the words Red Cross or 

 Geneva Cross, without the consent 

 of the army council. The intern- 

 ment of wounded prisoners of war 

 in Switzerland during the Great 

 War was arranged in pursuance of 

 the Geneva Convention. Military 

 hospital ships fly the Red Cross 

 Hag, besides being painted white 

 outside, with a horizontal band of 

 green about a yard in breadth. 

 See Red Cross. 



Geneva Spirit (Fr. genievre, 

 from genevrier, juniper). Distilled 

 spirit flavoured with juniper ber- 

 ries. The name is due to the popu 

 lar confusion of the word with the 

 town of Geneva. Quantities are 

 made in Holland, notably at Schie- 

 dam, whence gin is often called 

 Hollands or Schiedam. See Gin. 



Genevieve (c. 422 - c. 512). 

 Patron saint of Paris. Born at 

 Nanterre, the daughter of a shep- 

 herd, she came under the influence 



S. Genevieve haranguing il;e citizens 



of Paris upon the approach of Attila. 



From the painting of E. Delaunay 



Pantheon, Paris 



of S. Germanus, and at 15 devoted 

 herself to the religious life, prac- 

 tising a stern asceticism, though 

 not entering a convent. When 

 Paris was taken by Childeric she 

 was tireless in her efforts on behalf 



of the citizens, and interceded with 

 the king for the prisoners. She 

 founded the church of S. Denis, 

 and encouraged the people to re- 

 sist Attila's invasion. Her tomb is 

 in the church of S. Etienne-du- 

 Mont, Paris. 



Gengibrillo OR SWEET GINGER. 

 Roots of a plant found in the 

 mountainous parts, and along the 

 rivers and streams, of Porto Rico. 

 It contains a yellow juice of bitter 

 taste which is used for dyeing and 

 marking handkerchiefs. It has 

 been found recently that the roots, 

 sliced and dried in the sun and 

 then powdered, yield a dye. De- 

 spite the name of the plant, its 

 root affords evidence that it is in 

 no way related to the ginger 

 family. Set Dyes. 



Genie. Good or evil spirits, 01 

 manifestations between the spiritual 

 and the animal in Oriental mythol- 

 ogy. In the Hindu Vedas they art 

 benevolent, but in the stories ot 

 The Arabian Nights and other 

 Eastern tales they are often either 

 evil powers or vaguely monstrous 

 slaves of those possessing some 

 power over their services. The 

 plural is genii. See Mythology 



Genipap (Genipa americana). 

 Small evergreen tree oi the natural 

 order Rubiaceae. Natives of tropi- 

 cal America and W. Indies, the 

 leaves are opposite, leathery and 

 lance-shaped ; flowers bell -shaped, 

 white, in clusters. The juicy fruit 

 is as large as an orange, but taper- 

 ing to each end, with a rather thick, 

 greenish-white rind. 



Genista. Genus ot shrubs ot the 

 natural order Leguminosae. They 

 are natives ot Europe, N. Africa, 

 and W. Asia. Native British 

 species are G. anglica, needle-furze, 

 and G. tinctoria, dyers' green weed 

 (q.v. ). See Plantageneb. 



Genista. British mine sweeper. 

 She was sunk by a German sub- 

 marine while mine-sweeping off the 

 W. coast of Ireland, Oct. 23, 1910. 

 About 80 officers and men were lost. 



Genitive (Lat. genetivus, be- 

 onging to birth). One of the cases 

 (q.v. ) in the inflexional languages. 

 The term is really a Latin mis- 

 translation of the Greek name 

 yenike, properly the class-case, 

 expressing in its widest application 

 the relation between one thing and 

 another. The ideas of source, 

 origin, possession, are only special 

 aspects of the general meaning. 

 The inflexion survives in the 

 English possessive (John's). See 

 Grammar. 



Genius (Lat. genere, to pro- 

 duce). In Roman mythology, the 

 god of productivity, in a special 

 sense a tutelary divinity. Every 

 man was supposed to be accom- 

 panied from the cradle to the grave 



by his genius, his higher and better 

 self, by whom he was protected 

 and influenced. Special days in a 

 man's life, such as his birthday and 

 wedding day, were made the occa- 

 sion of festivity and rejoicing, and 

 sacrifice was offered to the genius. 

 Like the individual man, families, 

 cities, states, localities, even baths 

 and theatres, had their genius. In 

 imperial times, the genius of the 

 emperor was an object of worship, 

 even during his lifetime. The 

 genius of a place was usually re- 

 presented in the form of a snake ; 

 that of a man as a youth dressed 



Genipap. Foliage and dower head o, 

 the tropical American fruit tree 



in a toga with veiled head, carrying 

 a cornucopia. The conception is 

 essentially Italian, although the 

 daemon of the Greeks exhibited 

 certain resem blances. 



In modern language, the word 

 genius is used with various shades 

 of meaning. It denotes special 

 aptitude for a particular branch 

 of learning, as a genius for mathe- 

 matics , distinguishing qualities 

 or characteristics, as the genius of 

 the Anglo-Saxon race ; outstand- 

 ing ability and a person possessed 

 of such. See Demonology. 



Gennadius, JOANNES (b. 1844). 

 Greek diplomatist. Educated at 

 the English college at Malta, he 

 served in the embassies of Wash- 

 ington, Constantinople, and Lon- 

 don. In 1882 he was appointed 

 charge d'affaires at Vienna, and 

 he was minister plenipotentiary 

 to London, 1885-92 and 1910-18. 

 An honorary doctor at Oxford, 

 Cambridge, and St. Andrews, his 

 abilities were widely recognized, 

 and his reputation as a bibliophile 

 was considerable. He retired from 

 the diplomatic service in 1918 and 

 settled in London. 



Genoa. Prov. of N.W. Italy, 

 sloping from the Apennines to the 

 Ligurian Sea. Its area is 1,582 

 sq. m. Curving round the Gulf of 

 Genoa and protected by mts., the 

 coastal tract, called the Riviera, 

 is a famous winter .resort. Fertile 

 and intensively cultivated, it pro- 

 duces fruit, flowers, oil, and wine. 



