GALLICISM GALVAM. 



351 



Gallic acid, when pure, is in whitish crystals, of a 

 sour laste, and which exhale a peculiar smell when 

 heated. It dissolves in about twenty-four parts of 

 water at 60, and in three parts at 212. It is also 

 soluble in alcohol and in ether. When repeatedly 

 sublimed, this acid is altered and in part decomposed. 

 It consists, according to Berzelius, of 



Hydrogen, S-00 



Carbon, 5064 



Oxygen, 38'36 



These proportions give the number sixty-three, as the 

 representative of gallic acid. The combinations of 

 pure gallic acid with metallic bases have scarcely 

 been examined, and consequently we have no accu- 

 rate chemical history of the gallates. Their solutions 

 are all very prone to decomposition, and acquire a 

 deep brown colour. This acid forms no precipitate 

 in solutions of potassa or of soda, but when dropped 

 into lime-water, baryta-water, or strontia-water, it 

 occasions the separation of a difficultly-soluble gallate 

 of those earths. It also causes a precipitate in solu- 

 tions of zirconia, glucina, and yttria. When an infu- 

 sion of galls is added to certain metallic solutions, it 

 forms precipitates composed of tannin, gallic acid, 

 and the metallic oxide ; and, as these are often of 

 different colours, the infusion is employed as a test 

 for such metals. Of these compounds, the tanno- 

 gallate of iron is of the most importance, as forming 

 the basis of writing ink and black dyes. When an 

 infusion of galls is dropped into a solution of sulphate 

 of iron, it produces a deep purple precipitate, which 

 is a very long time in subsiding. It becomes black 

 by exposure to the air. In writing ink, this precipi- 

 tate is retained in suspension by mucilage, and the 

 following proportions appear the best which can be 

 used : Finely bruised galls, three ounces ; green 

 vitriol (protosulphate of iron), logwood shavings, gum 

 arabic, of each one ounce ; vinegar, one quart. Put 

 these ingredients into a bottle, and agitate them 

 occasionally during twelve or fourteen days ; then 

 allow the coarser parts to settle, and pour off the 

 ink for use. See Ink. 



GALLICISM ; an idiom of the French language, 

 employed in an expression, or in the construction of 

 a sentence belonging to another language. 



GALLIMA1TAS ; nonsense, gibberish. The ex- 

 pression, M. Huet thinks, was occasioned by the 

 name of a French peasant, Mathias (Matthew), who 

 had a lawsuit on account of a cock (in Latin, gallus). 

 His advocate, who argued his case in Latin, agree- 

 ably to the customs of the time, frequently repeated 

 the words gallus Mathice (Matthew's cock); but, 

 getting confounded by the repetition, he used the 

 expression galli Mathias (the cock's Matthew). As 

 this signified nothing, any unmeaning, absurd expres- 

 sion was afterwards called gallimatias. Perhaps this 

 explanation and etymology is not a bad specimen of 

 gallimatias. 



G ALLIN-iE, in ornithology; the fifth order of birds, 

 under which are comprehended the peacock, phea- 

 sant, turkey, the common cock, partridge, grouse, do- 

 do, &c. 



GALLING FIRE ; a repeated discharge of cannon, 

 or small arms, which, by its execution, greatly annoys 

 the enemy. 



GALLING OF A HORSE'S BACK ; a disorder 

 occasioned by heat and the chafing or pinching of the 

 saddle. To prevent it, some persons take a hind's 

 skin, well garnished with hair, and fit it neatly under 

 the pannel of the saddle, so that the hairy side may 

 be next the horse. When a horse's back is galled 

 upon a journey, take out a little of the stuffing of the 

 pannel, over the swelling, and sew a piece of soft 

 white leather on the inside of the pannel, anoint the 

 l/art with salt butter, and every evening wipe it clean, 



rubbing it till it grows soft ; wash the swelling OP 

 hurt, every evening, with cold water and soap, and 

 strew it with salt, which should be left on till the 

 horse be saddled in the morning, when the part is to 

 be again anointed with tutter or grease. 



GALLIOT ; a Dutch vessel, carrying a main and 

 a mizzen mast, and a large gaff-main-sail. A galliot 

 is a sort of. a brigantine, or small galley, built very 

 slightly, and designed only for chase. She can both 

 sail and row, and usually carries about two or three 

 pedreros, and has sixteen or twenty oars. All the 

 seamen on board are soldiers, and each has a musket 

 by him on quitting his oar. Some also call the bomb- 

 ketches galliots. 



GALLITZIN, AMALIA, princess ; a German lady 

 distinguished for talent and a strong propensity to 

 mysticism. She was the daughter of count Schmet- 

 tau, and lived, during a part of her youth, at the court 

 of the wife of prince Ferdinand, brother of Frederic 

 the Great. She was married to the Russian prince 

 Gallitzin ; and, as much of his time was passed in 

 travelling, she chose Munster, in the centre of Ger- 

 many, for her permanent residence. Here she assem- 

 bled around her some of the most distinguished men 

 of the age, Hemsterhuis, Hamann, Jacobi, Goethe, 

 Furstenberg, and others. The two first were her 

 most intimate friends. She was an ardent Catholic, 

 and strongly given to making proselytes. With the 

 exception of her excessive religious zeal, she was an 

 excellent lady in every respect. In the education 

 of her children, she followed Rousseau's system. The 

 princess is the Diotima to x whom Hemsterhuis, under 

 the name of Dioklas, addressed his work On Atheism. 

 She died, in 1806, near Munster. Her only son was 

 a missionary in America. 



GALLON, an English measure of capacity, 

 being equal to four quarts, or eight pints. 



Cub. Inches. 



The old gallon, wine measure, contained 231 

 ditto, beer measure, . . . 282 

 The new imperial gal. contains 211-274 



GALLOON, in commerce ; a narrow kind of lace, 

 used to edge or border cloths. 



GALLY, in printing ; a frame into which the com- 

 positor empties the lines out of his composing stick, 

 and in which he ties up the page when it is com- 

 pleted. Some eallies are formed of an oblong square 

 board, with a ledge on three sides, and a groove to 

 admit a false bottom, called a gally-slice. 



GALLUPI, BALDESSARO ; a musician, called also 

 il Buranello, from Burano, an island near Venice, 

 where he was born in 1703. He studied at the Con- 

 servatorio degli Incurabili. While yet very young, 

 he was a skilful performer on the harpsichord, and 

 gave proofs of a talent for composition. When not 

 twenty years old, he produced his first opera, at 

 Venice, called the Rival Friends, which was unfav- 

 ourably received ; but so rapid was his improvement, 

 that in a short time he got possession of almost all 

 the Italian theatres. He was made chapel-master 

 at St Mark's, organist at several churches, and 

 teacher at the Conservatorio degli Incurabili. At the 

 age of sixty-three, he was appointed first chapel-mas- 

 ter at St Petersburg. In 1768, he returned to his 

 family at Venice. He continued his labours until 

 his death, in 1785. His last operas and church 

 music have been thought to surpass his former pro- 

 ductions in spirit, taste, and power. His operas, 

 which were about fifty in number, were almost all of 

 the comic kind. 



GALVAN1, LUIGI, an Italian physiologist, known 

 as the discoverer of animal electricity, or galvanism , 

 was born at Bologna, Sept. 9, 1737, studied medicine, 

 and, having distinguished himself by a thesis on the 

 nature and formation of the bones, in 1762, he entered 



