GENTILES 



3468 



GEODESY 



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Gentian. Root, leaves, and flowers 

 of Gentiana lutea 



is the Spring Gentian (0. verna), 

 and a taller plant is the Marsh 

 Gentian (Q. pneumonanthe"). 



The yellow-flowered 0. liilea 

 furnishes the gentian-root used in 

 medicine. It contains a bitter prin- 

 ciple and is used for stimulating 

 the flow of the gastric juices and 

 promoting digestion. The official 

 preparations are the extract, dose 

 28 grains ; the compound infusion, 

 -1 fluid oz. ; and the compound 

 tincture, -1 fluid dram. 



Gentiles (Heb. goyim, Gr. 

 ethne, Lat. gentes). Scriptural 

 terms used variously in the O.T. 

 and N.T. Sometimes rendered 

 " nations " and sometimes " heath- 

 en," it was originally employed by 

 the Jews in a general sense to mean 

 any nation ; or applied figuratively 

 to animals and insects. With the 

 development of the Hebrew idea of 

 "the chosen people" the term 

 Gentiles was applied by them to 

 nations other than themselves. 

 Later, as in the case of the Gr. 

 barbaros, it became a term of con- 

 tempt or reproach, but it has been 

 used by Jew and Gentile alike as a 

 synonym for the heathen. 



Gentili, ALBEBICO (1552-1608). 

 Italian jurist. Born at Ancona, 

 Jan. 14, 1552, he migrated to Eng- 

 land hi 1580. He taught law at Ox- 

 ford until 1590, when he moved to 

 London, where he died June 19, 

 1608. His works De Jure Belli (On 

 The Law of War), 1588-98 ; and 

 De Legationibus (On Legations), 

 1585, are among the European 

 foundations of international law. 



Gentilly. Town of France, in the 

 dept. of Seine. It stands on the river 

 Bievre, between Paris, of which it 

 is virtually a suburb, and Sceaux, 

 4 m. S. of the city, with which 

 there is tramway communication. 

 Although largely residential, the 

 town has manufactures of soap and 



biscuits, tanneries and large quar- 

 ries in the neighbourhood. Close 

 by, on the right bank of the Bievre, 

 is the hospice of Bicetre, which has 

 accommodation f orover3,000infirm 

 and insane persons. Pop. 10,744. 



Gentleman (Lat. gentilis, be- 

 longing to a clan). Term which at 

 different periods has had different 

 and never clearly defined meanings. 

 Patents of gentility conferring a 

 coat of arms without a title were 

 sometimes bestowed by the sove 

 reign, now only by the Herald's 

 College ; but the right to wear coat- 

 armour the test of a gentleman 

 most persistently put forward, and 

 in some circumstances officially 

 recognized does not apply to 

 every case. Nowadays the term is 

 commonly used to indicate certain 

 standards of behaviour, apart from 

 considerations of birth or rank. In 

 1920 the French Academy gave the 

 word a place in the official diction- 

 ary of France. See Lady ; Nobility. 



Gentleman's Magazine, THE. 

 The first monthly periodical of its 

 kind in England. It was started 

 Jan. 1, 1731, at St. John's Gate, 

 Clerkenwell, by Edward Cave, with 

 the purpose of presenting news in a 

 condensed form. Cave's pseudonym 

 Sylvanus Urban was adopted by 

 his successors. The magazine was 

 modernised in 1868 and ed. succes- 

 sively by Richard Gowing, Joseph 

 Hatton, Joseph Knight, and A. H. 

 Bullen. The copyright belongs to 

 The Times. 



Gentlemen- at- Arms. Per- 

 sonal bodyguard of gentlemen "ex- 



tracte of nobk 



Gentlemen-at-Arms. 



Dress of officer in 



the corps 



blood," established 

 by Henry VIII 

 in 1509 under 

 the title of 

 Gentlemen 

 Speers and re- 

 organized in 

 1539 as Gentle- 

 men Pension- 

 ers. Except the 

 Yeomen of the 

 Guard it is the 

 oldest military 

 corps in Eng- 

 land. In 1834 

 William IV al- 

 tered its name 

 to the King's 

 Bodyguard of 

 the Honourable 

 Corps of Gen- 



tlemen-at-Arms, and in 1862 it was 

 reorganized on a military basis. It 

 now consists of a captain, a lieu- 

 tenant, standard-bearer, adjutant 

 styled the clerk of the cheque a 

 sub-officer, and 39 gentlemen-at- 

 arms, all officers of the regular army 

 who have received decorations. 

 Their office is to attend the royal 

 person on all occasions of public 

 solemnity. See Household, Royal. 



Friedrich yon Gentz, 

 German diplomat 



Gentz, FMEDIJCH VON (1764- 

 1832). German diplomatist. Born 

 at Breslau, May 2, 1764, he was 

 educated at Berlin and the univer- 

 sity of Konigsberg. In 1785 he 

 entered the public service of Prus- 

 sia, and on the outbreak of the 

 French Revolution his literary 

 talents found full play. His un- 

 compromising dislike of the revo- 

 lution necessitated his quitting 

 Prussia in 1804, and he went to 

 nngnjnaBrara^M Vienna, pass- 

 I ing the rest of 

 flE ^m I "is h'fe m the 

 service of Aus- 

 tria. He visit- 

 ed England 

 and received 

 money for 

 writing against 

 Napoleon. He 

 was secretary 

 to the Austrian 

 representatives at Vienna in 1815, 

 and died July 9, 1832. Many of his 

 voluminous writings have been pub- 

 lished, as have his Diaries, 1800-28. 

 Genus. Group of species whose 

 close resemblance to one another 

 in important anatomical details 

 shows them to be related. Genera 

 are distinguished from each other 

 by greater and more important 

 differences than those that divide 

 the species in the same genus. See 

 Species. 



Genu-Valgum (Lat., knock- 

 knee). Deformity in which the 

 knees touch. It is most often due 

 to rickets. See Knee. 



Geocentric (Gr. ge, earth ; ken- 

 tron, centre). Term used in astron 

 omy for describing the motions and 

 positions of planets, etc., as viewed 

 from the earth. See Astronomy. 



Geodes (Gr. geodes, earth-like). 

 In mineralogy, round hollow con- 

 cretions often containing crystals 

 of various minerals. Called potato 

 stonesinsomedistricts,and aetites or 

 eagle stones by the Greeks, they have 

 been supposed beneficial in pain. 



Geodesy (Gr. geodaisia, land 

 division). Science of the measure- 

 ment of the globe, i.e. of geodetic 

 surveying as distinct from the sur- 

 veying of plots of land for farms, 

 railways, etc. Dichaearchus, about 

 4320 B.C., and Eratosthenes, c. 200 

 B.C., both estimated the circum- 

 ference of the earth, and various 

 attempts were made by Hippar- 

 chus, Ptolemy, and, later, Arabian 

 mathematicians, Galileo, Newton, 

 etc., to estimate the dimensions of 

 the earth. It was not till 1615, how- 

 ever, when the system of triangu- 

 lation was first used, that anything 

 approaching accuracy was reached. 

 The system of triangulation con- 

 sists in measuring a succession of 

 angles and sides of triangles on the 

 earth's surface. A base line is 



