363 



G YR 



usually graduated upon scales, sectors, 

 &c., also called the line of numbers, and 

 line of lines. 



GUTTER'S QUADRANT, an instrument 

 used to find the hour of the day , the sun's 

 azimuth, &c. It is a sort of stereogra- 

 phic projection on the plane of the equi- 

 noctial, the eye being supposed one of 

 the poles, so that the tropic, ecliptic, and 

 horizon, form the arcs of circles. 



GUNTER'S SCALE, a large plane scale 

 having various lines upon it, both logar- 

 ithmic and natural, relating to trigono- 

 metry,navigation,&c. It is chiefly used by 

 seamen, and called by them the Gwiter. 



GUN'WALE, the uppermost wale of a 

 ship, or that piece of timber which reaches 

 on either side of the ship from the half- 

 deck to the forecastle, being the upper- 

 most bevel which finishes the upper works 

 of the hull. 



GUR'RT, a native fortification in India, 

 generally consisting of a wall flanked 

 with towers. 



GUS'TO GRAS'DO. In painting, an Italian 

 phrase equivalent to the beau ideal of the 

 French, and the great style of the English. 



GUT'TA (Lat.), a drop. The gutta rosa- 

 cea is a red or pimpled face. The gutta 

 serena is a disease of the eyes, otherwise 

 called Amaurosis (q. v.). The drops of a 

 Doric frieze are called guttee. 



GUTTER-LEDGER, a cross bar laid along 

 the middle of a large hatchway, to sup- 

 port the covers. 



GCT, Sp. guia, a guide. A rope tised 

 to keep a heavy body steady while hoist- 

 ing or lowering. 



GY'BINO. In navigation, the shifting of 

 a boom-sail from one side of the mast to 

 the other. 



GYMS'ASIUM, yvu-vtxtrtov, from rvu,os, 

 naked. A name first given by the Spar- 

 tans to the public building where the 

 young men exercised themselves, naked, 

 in running, leaping, wrestling, throwing 

 the discus, &c. Gymnasia were after- 

 wards very common in Greece, and were 

 imitated and improved at Rome. Since 

 that time athletic exercise has assumed 

 the form of a science, under the name of 

 gymnastics. The gymnasiarch was the 

 officer who provided the oil and other 

 necessaries for the gymnasium. 



GYMNE'TRUS, a genus of fish of the 

 Tenioid family. The Arctic ocean produces 

 two species, called in Norway the king of 

 the herrings, one of which, about 10 feet 

 long, being usually found preceding or 

 accompanying shoals of that fish. 



GTMNOCAR'PI, from yviiva? ,and xotcffos. 

 Fungi of fleshy texture, bearing their 

 seeds in an open receptacle. 



GYMNODON'TES, a family of fishes : order 

 Plectognathi. Name from yuu.of .naked, 

 and o&auf, a tooth, the jawe, instead of 



teeth, being furnished with an ivory sub- 

 stance internally divided into laminae, 

 whose ensemble resembles the beak of the 

 parrot, and which in fact consists of two- 

 teeth united. The Diodon, Triodon.and 

 Tetraodon are genera. 



GYMNOS'OPHIST, from <yvu.vo;, naked, 

 and troQiffvus, a philosopher ; a naked 

 philosopher. The gymnosophists are a 

 class of Indian devotees, tlnis (It-nominated 

 from their going barefooted and with 

 little clothing. They affect to place the 

 chief happiness of man in a contempt of 

 the pleasures of sense. 



GYMNOSPER'MIA, from -yvfAvo;, naked, 

 and trxtgn&, seed. An order of plants of 

 the class Didynamia, embracing such as 

 have added to the didynamial character 

 four naked seeds. 



GYMNO'TUS, the electrical eel (q. v.). A 

 genus of anguiUiform fish. The name 

 gymnotus is a contraction of gymnonotits 

 (bare-back), applied by Artidi to these 

 fishes. 



GYN^E'CIUM (Gr.). In ancient architec- 

 ture, the portion of a Grecian house set 

 apart for the female part- of the family. 



GYNJJCO'CRACY, yuj, and x^atrui, to 

 govern. A state in which women are 

 allowed to govern. 



GYNAN'DRIA, from ymv\, a female, and 

 >}, a male. The name of the 20th class 

 of plants in the sexual system of Linnaeus, 

 comprehending those which produce her- 

 maphrodite flowers, the stamina of which 

 grow upon the pistil so that the male 

 and female organs are united, and do not 

 stand apart as in other hermaphrodite 

 flowers. Epithet gynandrian. 



GY'NOPHERE, yuvr n and Qi^ca, to bear. 

 In botany, the stalk upon which some 

 ovaria are seated. 



GYP'SIES, corrupted from " Egyptians." 

 A nation of vagrants, whose principal 

 occupations are fortune - telling and 

 thievery. 



GYP'SINUM METALLUM, the lapis specu- 

 laris, used by the ancients for windows, 

 as glass is in modern times. 



GYP'SUM, from 'yu^of, lime. A native 

 sulphate of lime, from which plaster of 

 Paris is obtained by calcination and slak- 

 ing with water. It contains 21 per cent, 

 of water. See ALABASTER, SELENITE, and 

 ANHYDRITE. 



GYRI, yv$os , circle. In mammalogy, the 

 annular series of scales in the tails of cer- 

 tain quadrupeds. 



GYRI'NUS, the whirler or wnter-flta. A 

 genus of coleopterous insects belonging 

 to the hydrocantharous tribe. Name from 

 yveoM, to turn round, which characterises 

 the motion of the insect on the surface of 

 the water. 



GYROCAR'PCS, a genus of plants which 



