GUL 



302 



GUN 



the :rani. In ecclesiastics, guardian of spi- 

 itttaiitii't. The trustee of the spiritual 

 Administration of a see during a vacancy. 

 Guardian of the temporalities, the trustee 

 of the goods and profits of the same. 



GUD'GSON. 1. In mechanics, the extre- 

 mity of a horizontal shaft or axle vhen 



it turns in a collar. 2. In ichthyology, 



a small fish. 3. Gudgeons in a ship, are 



the eyes driven into the stern-post to 

 hang the rudder on. 



GUEBRES, infidels. The sectaries of the 

 Persian religion who worship fire. 



GUBT.F, order of. An Hanoverian order 

 of knighthood. 



GUELFS and GHIB'ELLINES. In Italian 

 history, two political parties in the middle 

 ages, whose feuds long distracted Italy. 



GUERILLA, Span, little war. The plan 

 of harassing the French armies by the 

 constant attacks of independent bands. 



GUIDE. In music, the leading part in a 

 canon or fugue. 



GUILD, Sax. geld, gield, gild or gyld. A 

 society or company associated for some 

 purpose, particularly for carrying; on 

 commerce. The merchant-guilds of our 

 Saxon ancestors answer to our modern 

 corporations. They were licensed by the 

 king and governed by their own laws. 



GUILD-HALL, the great court of judica- 

 ture in London. 



GUILLOCHE (Fr). In architecture, an 

 ornament composed of continuous curved 

 fillets. 



GUILLOTINE', a machine for beheading, 

 introduced into France during the Kevo- 

 lution. It is similar to the maiden, for- 

 merly used in Scotland, and the mannara, 

 used in Italy for beheading criminals of 

 noble birth. It was proposed (not in- 

 Tented) by Guillotin to the French Con- 

 Ten tion, as being a less barbarous mode 

 of decapitation than the axe previously 

 used : hence the name. 



GUIN'EA, an English gold coin first 

 struck in the reign of Charles II., and 

 current till lately for II. 1*. It took its 

 name from being made of the gold 

 brought from Guinea on the coast of 

 Africa. 



GUIN'EA-WORM, the Filaria mcdinensii, 

 Cm., which is very common in hot coun- 

 tries, and often insinuates itself under the 

 skin of man, causing intense p:un. It is 

 often of great length, but is seldom 

 thicker than the barrel of a pigeon's 

 quill. 



GUITAR', Span, guitarra. A. musical 

 stringed instrument larger than a violin, 

 and played with the fingers. 



GULES. In heraldry, a corruption of 

 the French word gueules, which in this 

 sense means red. It is marked in en- 

 graving by vertical straight lines. 



GULLIES, a term sometimes applied to 

 iron tram-plates or rails. 



Gc'i.o. In zoology, the generic name of 

 the gluttons, placed by Linnaeus among 

 the bears. The ferrets of South America 

 and the Wolverine of North America are 

 placed along with the common glutton 

 (EVsopuIo.Lin.) by Cuvier.as are also the 

 grison and taira. 



GUM, Lat. gummi. The mucilage of 

 vegetables, usually transparent when dry, 

 tasteless and adhesive ; soluble in water, 

 and insoluble in alcohol and oil ; coagu- 

 lates by the action of weak acids, and in, 

 watery solution capable of acid fermenta- 

 tion. The common gums are those of 

 the plum, the peach, and cherry trees. 

 Gum-arabic flows from the acacia of 

 Egypt, Arabia, &c. Gum-renegal is a va- 

 riety of gum-arahic. Gum-tragiicanth or 

 adragant is produced by a species of as- 

 tragalus common in oriental countries. 

 The name gum was formerly applied in- 

 differently to all concrete vegetable 

 juices, hence the names gum-copal, gum- 

 sandarach.and other gums designated ge- 

 nerally by the name of gum-resins. 

 Caoutchouc also has been named gum- 

 elastic and elastic gum. 



GUM'-RT SIN, a vegetable juice consist- 

 ing of gum and resin combined. Gum- 

 resins rarely flow spontaneously from 

 plants, but are mostly extracted by inci- 

 sion. They are mostly opaque and 

 brittle, and partly soluble in water, and 

 partly in alcohol. The principal gum- 

 resins are aloes, gum-ammoniac, assafce- 

 tida, bdellium, enphorbium, galbanum, 

 gamboge, guaiac, myrrh, olibanum, opo- 

 ponax, sarcocolla, scammony,and styrax. 



GUN'BOAT, a boat or small vessel fitted 

 to carry one or two guns at the bow. 



GCX'-METAL, an alloy of copper and tin. 



officers in a king's ship. He has charge 

 of the ordnance and ammunition. 



GUN'NERY, a military art denoting the 

 management of guns and mortars. 



GuN'NY,Bengalese,<7Cni. A strong coarse 

 sackcloth made in Bengal from the fibre of 

 two species of plants. Also a weight: of 

 cinnamon, 841bs. ; of saltpetre, 140 Ibs. 



GUNPOWDER, is a mixture of nitre, sul- 

 phur, and charcoal. 



GUNPOWDER-PLOT. The celebrated con- 

 spiracy of certain disappointed Roman 

 Catholics to blow up king James I. and 

 parliament by gunpowder, detected on 

 the 4th Nov. 1605. 



GUN'- ROOM, an apartment in a ship oc- 

 cupied by the gunner, &c. as a mess- 

 room. 



GUNTER'S CHAIN, the chain in common 

 use for measuring land, so called from 

 E. Gunter, its inventor. The length is 68 

 feet, divided into 100 links of 7'92 inches 

 each, so that 1000 square chains make an 

 acre. 



GUN'TER'S LINE, a logarithmic line, 



