GAL 



GAL 



Sir John Finch, in a letter to Thomas 

 Salisbury, attributes the destruction of 

 Galileo's MSS. to his widow's devotion, 

 and the fanaticism of her confessor : but 

 the best authorities maintain that our phi- 

 losopher was never married. His son 

 Vincenzo Galilei, who, as we have alrea- 

 dy seen, honourably supported his fa- 

 ther's reputation, by first applying his in- 

 vention of the pendulum to clock-work, 

 was of illegitimate birth. 



GAL1UM, in botany, a genus of the 

 Tea-andria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Stellatse. Rubiaceae, Jus- 

 sieu. Essential character : corolla one- 

 petalled, flat ; seeds two, roundish. There 

 are forty-eight species. 



GALL, in the animal economy, the 

 same with bile. See BILE. 



GALL, in natural history, denotes any 

 protuberance or tumour, produced by the 

 pur.cture of insects on plants and trees 

 of rlilterent kinds. Galls are of various 

 forms and sizes, and no less different 

 with regard to their internal structure. 

 Some have only one cavity, and others a 

 number of small cells communicating 

 with each other, or entirely separate ; 

 some of them are as hard as the wood 

 of the tree they grow on, whilst others 

 are soft and spongy; the first being term- 

 ed gall-nuts, and the latter berry-galls, or 

 apple-galls. 



The general history of galls is this : an 

 insect of the fly -kind (see CYBTIPS), is in- 

 structed by nature to take care for the 

 safety of her young, by lodging her eggs 

 in a woody substance, where they will 

 be defended from all injuries, and be able 

 to procure a sufficiency of nutriment, 

 proper for them, consisting of the juices 

 of the plant upon which they are placed: 

 she for this purpose wounds the branches 

 or leaves of a tree, and the lacerated 

 vessels, discharging their contents, soon 

 form tumours about the holes thus made. 

 These tumours are gradually increased 

 to their full size by the morbid action 

 of the vessels of the plant, occasioned by 

 the continual and peculiar stimulus of 

 the included infant cynips : and, although 

 their variety is very great, of form, size, 

 colour, and consistence, it is no difficult 

 matter for the practised eye to deter- 

 mine the species of cynips by the appear- 

 ance of its gall. The hole in each of these 

 tumours, through which the fly, when 

 arrived at perfection, has made its way, 

 may for the most part be found; and 

 when it is not, the maggot-inhabitant, 

 or its remaps, are sure to be found with- 

 in, on breaking the gall. It is to be ob- 



served, however, that in those galls which 

 contain several cells, there may be in- 

 sects found in some of them.though there 

 is a hole by which the inhabitant of an- 

 other cell has escaped. Oak-galls, put in 

 a very small quantity into a solution of 

 vitriol in water, though but a very weak 

 one, gives it a purple or vitriol colour, 

 which as it grows stronger becomes 

 black ; and on this property depends the 

 art of making our writing-ink, as also 

 a great deal of those of dyeing and dress- 

 ing leather, and other manufactures. See 



I3TK, &C. 



GALL bladder, called vesicula, is usually 

 of the shape of a pear, and of the size of 

 a small hen's egg. It is situated in the 

 concave side of the liver, and lies upon 

 the colon, part of which it tinges with its 

 own colour. The use of the gall-bladder 

 is to collect the bile, first secreted in the 

 liver, and mixing it with its own peculiar 

 produce, to perfect it farther, to retain it 

 together a certain time, and then to ex- 

 pel it. 



GALL,/??/. See CYTVIPS. 



GA.LL stone. See CALCULI biliary. 



GALLEON, in naval affairs, a sort of 

 ships.employed in the commerce of the 

 West Indies. The Spaniards send annual- 

 ly two fleets; the one for Mexico, which 

 they call the flota, and the other for Peru, 

 which they call the galleons. 



By a general regulation made in Spain, 

 it has been established that there should 

 be twelve men of war, and five tenders, 

 annually fitted out for the armada or gal- 

 leons ; eight ships of six hundred tons 

 burden each, and three tenders, one of an 

 hundred tons, for the island Margaritta, 

 and two of eighty each, to follow the ar- 

 mada ; for the New Spain fleet, two ships 

 of six hundred tons each, and two ten- 

 ders of eighty each ; and for the Hondu- 

 ras fleet, two ships of five hundred tons 

 each ; and, in case no fleet happened to 

 sail any year, three galleons and a tender 

 should be sent to New Spain for the plate. 

 They were formerly appointed to sail from 

 Cadiz, in January, that they might arrive 

 at Porto-Bello about the middle of April, 

 where the fair being over, they might 

 take aboard the plate, and be at Havanna 

 with it about the middle of June, where 

 they were joined by the flota, that they 

 might return to Spain with the greater 

 safety. For this purpose the viceroy of 

 Peru was to take care that the plate 

 should be at Panama by the middle of 

 March. The plate is fifteen days remov- 

 ing from Potosi to Arica, eight days ge- 

 nerally from thence by sea to Callao, and 



