GENERAL ISSUE GENEVA. 



383 



with them stand the tables of disputed succession, 

 which represent several lines of a family, or 

 several collateral families, in order to deduce their 

 rights of succession from their degree of relation- 

 ship. Synchronical tables consist of the genealogies 

 of several families placed together, in order to 

 compare, with facility, relationships, marriages, divi- 

 sions of inheritance, &c. Historical genealogical 

 tables differ from mere genealogical tables, as they 

 attach to the descent the biographies also of the 

 members. There are also tables which show, be- 

 sides the succession of the families, the diminution or 

 increase of the family property. The common form 

 of genealogical tables places the common stock at 

 the head, and shows the degree of each descendant 

 by lines. Some tables, however, have been con- 

 structed in the form of a tree, after the model of the 

 canonical law (arbor consanguinitatis), in which the 

 progenitor is placed beneath, as if for a root a form 

 in which the ancient genealogists delighted. Genea- 

 logical knowledge was most important in the middle 

 ages, when the nobility was distinct from the other 

 classes, laying exclusive claim to certain offices, 

 situations, &c., and every one, who wished to obtain 

 them, had to show a certain number of ancestors. 

 Then arose the passion of referring to the remotest 

 antiquity, or at least to Roman families, for the foun- 

 ders of the royal families of Europe. See Gatterer 

 (Abriss der Genealogie, Sketch of Genealogy, 

 Gottingen, 1788), Putter (Tabb. Geneal. Gottingen, 

 1768, 4to), Koch in Strasburg, and Voigtel (1810), 

 first carried genealogy to a higher perfection. See 

 also the article Heraldry. 



GENERAL ISSUE, in law, is that plea which 

 denies at once the whole declaration or indictment, 

 without offering any special matter, by which to 

 evade it. It is called the general issue, because, by 

 importing an absolute and general denial of what is 

 alleged in the declaration, it amounts at once to an 

 issue, or fact affirmed on one side, and denied on the 

 other. This is the ordinary plea upon which most 

 causes are tried, and is now almost invariably used 

 In all criminal cases. It puts every thing in issue, 

 that is, denies every thing, and requires the party to 

 prove all that he has stated. It is a frequent ques- 

 tion, What can be given in evidence by the defend- 

 ant upon this plea? and the difficulty is, to know 

 when the matter of defence may be urged upon the 

 general issue, or must be specially pleaded upon the 

 record. In many cases, for the protection of jus- 

 tices, constables, excise officers, &c., they are, by 

 act of parliament, enabled to plead the general issue, 

 and give the special matter for their justification, 

 under the act, in evidence. 



GENERAL OF AN ARMY, in the art of war ; 

 he who commands in chief. 



General is also used for a particular march or beat 

 of drum, being the first which gives notice for the 

 infantry to be in readiness to march. 



General is also used for the chief of an order of 

 monks. 



GENERATED is used by mathematicians to de- 

 note whatever is formed by the motion of a point, 

 line, or surface. Thus a line is said to be generated 

 by the motion of a point ; a surface, by the motion of 

 a line; and a solid, by the motion of a surface. The 

 same term is also sometimes used in a similar sense 

 in arithmetic and algebra. Thus 20 is said to be 

 generated by the two factors 4 and 5, or 2 and 10 ; 

 a b, of the factors a and b, &c. 



GENERATION. In ancient chronology, time is 

 sometimes divided according to generations, or the 

 mean duration of human life. Herodotus reckons 

 100 years to three generations. Other writers take 

 30, 28, 22 ; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 27 years, for 



a generation. The number commonly adopted is SO 

 years. 



GENERIC AL NAME, in natural history; the 

 word used to signify all species of natural bodies, 

 which agree in certain essential and peculiar charac- 

 ters, and are therefore all of the same family or kind ; 

 so that the word used as the generical name equally 

 expresses every one of them; and some other words 

 expressive of the peculiar qualities of figures of each 

 are added, in order to denote them singly, and make 

 up what is called the specific name. Thus the word 

 rosa, or rose, is the generical name of a whole series 

 of flowers which are distinguished by the specific 

 names of the red-rose, the white-rose, the apple-rose, 

 &c. 



GENESARETH, or GENNEZARETH (called 

 also Chinnereth, Cinneroth, Genesar, sea of Galilee, 

 and sea of Tiberias) ; a lake in Palestine, twenty-eight 

 miles east of Acre, and forty-five north of Jerusa- 

 lem. It is seventeen miles long and six broad. The 

 Jordan passes through it. Its waters are sweet and 

 transparent, and abound with fish. " Its broad and 

 extended surface," says doctor Clarke, " covering 

 the bottom of a profound valley, environed by lofty 

 and precipitous eminences, added to the impression 

 of a certain reverential awe under which every Chris- 

 tian pilgrim approaches it, give a character of dig- 

 nity unparalleled by any similar scenery." 



GENESEE ; a river of America, which rises in 

 Pennsylvania, and runs north through New York, and 

 flows into lake Ontario, at Port Genesee, six miles 

 below Rochester. At the distance of six miles from 

 its mouth are tails of ninety-six feet, and, one mile 

 higher up, other falls of seventy-five feet. Above 

 these, it is navigable for boats nearly seventy miles, 

 where are two other falls, of sixty and ninety feet, one 

 mile apart, in Nunda, south of Leicester. An aque- 

 duct for the Erie canal crosses this river at Roches 

 ter. There is a tract, at the head of Genesee river, 

 six miles square, embracing waters, some of which 

 flow into the gulf of Mexico, others into Chesapeake 

 bay, and others into the gulf of St Lawrence. This 

 tract is probably elevated 1600 or 1700 feet above 

 the Atlantic ocean. This river waters one of the 

 finest tracts of land in the state. Its alluvial flats 

 are extensive and very fertile. 



G ENESIS, in mathematics, is nearly the same as 

 generation, being the formation of a line, surface, or 

 solid, by the flowing of a point, line, or surface. Here 

 the moving line or figure is called the describent, and 

 the line in which the motion is made, the dirigcnt. 



GENESIS (Greek) ; creation, birth, origin. The 

 first book of the Pentateuch has been so called by 

 the Alexandrian translators, because it treats of the 

 creation of the world. 



GENETHLIACON ; a birth-day poem. Geneth- 

 liatic ; one who predicts the fortune of an infant 

 from the situation of the stars at the moment of its 

 birth. See Astrology. 



GENEVA ; a Protestant canton of Switzerland 

 (q. v.), with 9137 square miles, and 53,560 inhabi- 

 tants ; of these 37,700 are Calvinists, 15,800 Catho- 

 lics, 350 Lutherans, and 60 Jews. The revenue of 

 the canton, in 1829, was 1,558,512 Swiss guilders; 

 expenditure, 1,516,220 guilders. The city of Geneva, 

 on the lake of the same name, the Swiss Athens, is 

 well built and fortified, enriched by commerce ami ma- 

 nufactures, and contains 25,000 inhabitants, in about 

 900 houses. The Rhone, which passes through the 

 lake of Geneva, enters the city itself, and divides it 

 into three unequal parts, connected by bridges. In 

 the most flourishing period of her trade, Geneva 

 contained 700 master watchmakers, and about 6000 

 workmen. At the present time, there are only 2800 

 persons engaged in this business, who make annuallj 



