GEN 
ing up the Prince, to be engraved on aring which he 
Be ai his finger, and always sealed with it; and 
Scipio Africanus did the same to commemorate one of 
his conquests. 
The ancients entertained a great partiality for rings; 
they wore many of the most valuable kinds at a time, 
loading their fingers, in the words of Pliny, with extra- 
vagant wealth, censu opimo digitos onerabant ; and these 
rings, as we have seen, contained either natural jewels 
or engraved gems. Most. pore numerous cameos 
were worn in the same way, merely for ornament, and 
cutting them might simply be a display of art in minia- 
ture, as sculpturing a statue, or painting a picture. But 
they had special collections of gems; as a taste for 
works of nature and art was not inferior at certain pe- 
riods of ancient empires to what now prevails. Czesar 
had a splendid cabinet, which he had collected at an 
immense expence, and of which the pearls of Great 
Britain constituted a valuable portion. This he conse- 
crated to the temple of Venus Genetrix ; and Pompey 
deposited the gems and rings found among the spoils 
of Mithridates in the capitol at Rome. 
With the irruptions of barbarians, the arts were over- 
thrown; and the most ingenious works of antiquity 
were consigned to oblivion. Among those which esca- 
ped, some became votive offerings in the hands of the 
earlier Christians-to the shrines of their saints, and have 
thus been preserved through ages; but by far the 
greater were lost. or destroyed. 
See Pliny Historia Naturalis, lib. 37, 88. Gorleus 
Dactyliotheca. Gorius Dactyliotheca Smithiana. Gem- 
marum antiquarum, delectus ex prestantioribus desumptus 
ue in Dactyliothecis Ducis Marlburiensis conservantur. 
rE Chau et Le Blond, Description des Principales 
Pierres Gravées du Cabinet de M. le Duc d’Orleans. 
Mariette, Traite des Pierres Graveés. Stosch, Gemme 
Antique celate sculptorum nominibus insignite. Natter, 
Traité de la Methode Antique de Graver en Pierres fines. 
Raspe, Descriptive Catalogue of Tassie’s Gems, 2 vols. 
in 4to, Memoitres del Academie Royale, 1712. Orschall, 
Sol sine veste. Fontanieu, / Art de faire les Cristauz, 
Paris 1778, in 8vo; and Journal de Physique. (c) 
GEMML, is the name of a lofty mountain of Switzer- 
land, situated between the Upper Vallais and the can- 
ton of Berne. Its name is derived from Gemini, indica- 
ting the two summits of the mountain. The height of 
Gemmi above the level of the sea is 6985 feet. On the 
southern side of the mountain, which is extremely preci- 
pitous, a road has been cut in the rock, which is accessi- 
-ble to mules and beasts of burden, and is reckoned the 
greatest wonder in Switzerland. It was constructed by 
the Tyrolese, between the years 1736 and 1741, at the 
joint expence of the Vallais and the canton of Berne. 
{t is about nine feet broad, and the traveller is separated 
from the precipice only by a small parapet. The de- 
scent of this mountain is particularly alarming to those 
who are subject to giddiness. The invalids from the 
north of Shi nk eh who frequent the baths of Leuk, 
are carried upon a barrow by eight men, who relieve 
one another by turns.. When they arrive at the fright- 
ful passage, the invalid is turned with his back to the 
precipice; his eyes are tied up, and the undaunted 
guides endeavour to dispel his fears by singing. From 
the baths of Leuk to the Chalets of Gemmi is a distance 
of 10,110 feet, and the vertical height of the wall. of 
Gemmi above the baths is 1600. feet.. From the high- 
est part of the road, there is a. magnificent view of the 
Southern Alps, which separate Piedmont from the Val- 
lais. See Atps, p. 578. 
GENDER. See Grammar. 
GENERA, in Music: with Euclid and others of the 
' 130 
GEN 
ancient Greek writers, implied or included the various | 
modes of dividing and disposing of the divisions of the ~ 
Tetrachord, or minor Fourth, which Interval seems. to 
have been considered as the constant boundary of 
sounds with the ancients, as the Octave is now with us. 
The three genera were called Curomaticum, Diatoni~ 
cum, and Ennarmonicum,. The two first of these ge- 
nera have been already treated of under their respec« 
tive articles, and the other remains to be described, 
According to Euclid, in the Enharmonic genus,.the 
Tetrachord was so.divided, that the first degree was a 
diesis or quarter of a major tone, the second degree the 
same, and the third degree such a ditone as would 
make up the true fourth: that is, in our notation, 
Pirate XXX. Vol. II. 
2025 +44 f4 17)m 
{is 262.4. 4f+4+. 21m 
4T= 2624 4f+ 2im 
4th = 254545 £422 m 
According to Aristoxenus, in this genus, the tetra- - 
chord was divided into 30 equal parts, which were thus 
distributed, viz. 3-4-3-+24=30 ; or : 
#iths, or ¢ x 4th=203,19086244f4+18m 
goths, or 7 X4th= 25.3207454 f4 2m 
zsths, or ys X4th= 25.32074E-4 f+ 2m 
4th = 253.85034 546f422m - 
~ 1 254,00000 +5 £4.22 m 
Dr Pepusch, Mr Overend, and Dr Boyce, were of 
opinion, that this genus was thus constituted, viz. 
T+t (or IIL) =197244f+417m 
&= 215 +2m 
S= 3654 f4.3m 
4th=254 45 f422m si 
ALOU SR Ptolemy, this genus is said, by Dr Wal- 
lis, to have been 45 x 33 x4=2; or 
4 =197.00000 54-4f+417m 
2i= 37.5397424+.f4+ 3m 
45— 19.460265 + 2m 
4th=254.00000245f422m (¢) 
GENERATION. See Puysiotocy, 
GENEVA, is a city in Switzerland, and capital of an 
ancient and independent republic of the same name, It 
is situated on the confines of Savey and France, at the 
southern extremity of the Lake of Geneva, where the 
Rhone issues from it in two rapid transparent streams of 
a beautiful blue colour, which unite after passing the city. 
These two branches of the Rhone are crossed by two 
wooden bridges destitute of beauty, and divide the town 
into two unequal parts.. The principal part of Geneva 
is situated on the left bank of the Rhone upon.a rising 
ground, about 80 or 90 feet above the level of the Lake. 
Geneva is surrounded, except towards the Lake, with 
high walls and fortifications, which were begun at the 
commencement of the seventeenth century under the 
direction of Agrippa D’Aubigné. The building of the 
bastion of Hesse, which is well worthy of being visited 
by strangers, cost no less than 10,000 crowns, which — 
Philip, landgrave of Hesse, had given to the republic for 
this purpose. The southern gate of the city is remark 
ably beautiful. The double ditches round this gate 
are filled with water. 
The town of Geneva is irregularly built. Some of 
the streets are extremely steep. The houses are lofty, 
consisting frequently of four er five stories; and in the 
commercial part of the town, particularly in the Rue 
Basse, they have Bloonay, amnnire of wood supported by — 
huge wooden pillars, which rise to the very top of the 
