GUM 



GYP 



and herbivorous; a native of South 

 America. It is considered a delieac-y 

 in Italy ; tiie skin is also valuable. 

 The female brin<,'s forth from ten to 

 fourteen young at a litter, carries 

 young three weeks, and bears every 

 two months in warm weather. They 

 are very cleanly, and cannot endure 

 cold. 



GULA. The region of the throat 

 nearest the lower jaw. 



GUM. A concrete juice, the prod- 

 uct of most vegetables. There are 

 many varieties, all reducible to two 

 kinds : soluble, or true gums, which 

 dissolve in water, forming mucilage, 

 and are insoluble in alcohol ; and in- 

 soluble, or tragacanth gums, which 

 soften and swell in water, but are not 

 soluble. It consists of C12 Hio Oio, 

 and is readily converted into grape 

 sugar by the action of dilute sulphu- 

 ric acid. It is an aliment similar to 

 sugar and starch, serving to sustain 

 animal heat, and probably to produce 

 fat. It so nearly resembles starch 

 that has been heated until slightly 

 brown, that the difference between 

 them in physical qualities is scarce- 

 ly apparent. The yolk of wool is 

 sometimes called gum. See Yolk. 



Fruit-trees often exude gum : this is 

 considered a disease, and may arise 

 from the punctures of insects ; but, 

 according to some, is also an indica- 

 tion of a poor soil, requiring putres- 

 cent manures. Various names, as 

 Bassorin, Aiabm, Ccrasin, &c., are 

 given to specimens of gum from dif- 

 ferent trees. 



GUM RESIN. A concrete juice, 

 obtained in various ways from plants, 

 partly soluble in water, and partly in 

 alcohol, as gamboge, aloes. 



GUNNEY BAGS. Coarse. sack- 

 cloth, made in the East Indies for 

 packing. 



GUTTA SERENA. BHndness 

 VFithout loss of transparency in the 

 eye. 



GYMNOCARPI (from yvfivog, na- 

 ked, and Kap-Koc, a fruit). The second 

 division of Persoon's Fungi, including 

 those that have their sporules in an 

 exposed dilated membrane or hyme- 

 nium, as Agancus, Boletus, Helvella. 



356 



I GYMNOSPERMIA, GYMNO- 

 SPER.MS (from yviivo^, and arrepfia, a 

 seed). Plants having naked seeds; at 

 present this feature rs said to be pe- 

 culiar to the Conifcra: and Cycadeec. 

 Linnaeus erroneously made it an order 

 of Didi/7iamia. The seeds of gymno- 

 sperms are, in truth, situated in car- 

 I pels imperfectly closed, the aggregate 

 of which forms the cone. 



GYNANDRIA (from yvv?}, a wom- 

 an, and avTjp, a man). A Linnaean 

 class, in which the stamens and pistil 

 are consolidated into a column. It 

 consists principally of the Orchidacea. 



GYNOPHORE (from yvvq, and 

 (jtepo), I bear). The stalk on which 

 some ovaria are elevated, as in the 

 passion flower. 



GYPSUM. Native sulphate of 

 lime, found chiefly in the tertiary and 

 new red sandstone. It occurs crys- 

 talline, fibrous, and massive. Com- 

 mon plaster of Paris consists of lime, 

 33 ; sulphuric acid, 46 ; and water, 

 21 per cent. ; it is soluble in 400 parts 

 water. By heating to redness, the 

 water is partly driven off, but the sul- 

 phate is unchanged ; the heated or 

 boiled plaster is used as cement for 

 plastering and moulding ; it is objec- 

 tionable in agriculture, from setting 

 as a hard crust upon moist stems or 

 leaves. The ground plaster is used 

 extensively in husbandry, and is very 

 advantageous to clovers, beans, lu- 

 cern, and leguminous crops generally ; 

 on turnips and cabbages it is also ser- 

 viceable. The dose is from one to 

 five bushels, scattered broad-cast in 

 the morning or evening upon grow'ing 

 plants soon after cropping, &c. It 

 does not seem to answer on natural 

 meadows, cerealia, umbelliferous, or 

 chenopodaceous plants, or on wet 

 places, very poor lands, or near the 

 seacoast. It is most serviceable on 

 new and manured soils. 



Gypsum powder is extensively 

 used in composts in stables, putres- 

 cent manures, and urine tanks, as it 

 absorbs and fixes some portion of 

 the volatile ammonia, converting it 

 into the sulphate ; it is not, however, 

 so good for these purposes as greea 

 vitriol. 



