GAS 



GAV 



End his labours certainly entitle him to a 

 irigh rank among the founders of the re- 

 form d philosophy. Gassendi possessed 

 a large and valuable library, to which he 

 added an astronomical and philosophical 

 apparatus, which, on account of their ac- 

 curacy and worth, were purchased by 

 the Emperor Ferdinand III. *nd after- 

 wards deposited, with other choice collec- 

 tions, in the Imperial Library at Vienna. 

 The MSS. which he left behind him, and 

 the treatises formerly published by him- 

 self, were printed together, accompanied 

 by the author's life, and published by 

 Sorbiere, in six volumes folio, 1658. 

 They consist of the philosophy of Epicu- 

 rus ; .the author's own philosophy ; as- 

 tronomical works ; the lives of Periesc, 

 Epicurus, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, 

 Purbeck, Regiomontanus, John Muller, 

 &c. a refutation of the meditations of 

 Des Cartes ; and epistles, and other 

 treatises. 



GASTEROSTEUS, the stickle-back, in 

 natural history, a genus of fishes of the 

 order Thoracici. Generic character: body 

 carinate on each side, somewhat length- 

 ened, and covered with bony plates ; dor- 

 sal fin single, with distinct spines between 

 it and the head ; ventral fins behind the 

 pectoral, but above the sternum. There 

 are thirteen species. G. aculeatus, or 

 three spined stickle-back, is found in al- 

 most all the fresh waters of Europe, and 

 is about three inches long, and in the be- 

 ginning of the summer displays the most 

 beautiful combination of bright-red, fine 

 olive green, and silvery whiteness. It is 

 extremely active and rapid, and is parti- 

 cularly injurious in fish ponds, as it de- 

 vours the spawn of the fish. It is highly 

 voracious, and is reported to have swal- 

 lowed in the space of five hours, seventy- 

 four young dace, about a quarter of an 

 inch in length. In the fens of Lincoln- 

 shire, these fishes appear in \mmense 

 numbers, and have been frequently sold 

 at the rate of a halfpenny per bushel. 

 They have been often most successfully 

 applied as manure for land. 



GASTRIC juice, a fluid of the utmost 

 importance in the process of digestion. It 

 does not act indiscriminately on all sub- 

 stances, nor is it the same in all animals, 

 nor does it continue always of the same 

 nature, even in the same animal ; it 

 changes according to circumstances. No 

 certain facts have yet been established as 

 to the nature of the gastric juice : it is 

 however completely ascertained, that it 

 acts with a chemical energy in dissolving 

 J : it attacks the surfaces of bodies, 



unites to the particles of them, which it 

 carries off, and cannot be separated from 

 them by filtration. It operates with more 

 energy and rapidity the more the food is 

 divided, and its action is increased by a 

 warm temperature. The food is not 

 merely reduced to very minute parts ; 

 its taste and smell are quite changed ; its 

 sensible properties are destroyed, and it 

 acquires new and very different ones. 

 This fluid does not act as a ferment, it 

 is a powerful antiseptic, and even restores 

 flesh already putriefied. Two things are 

 well known with respect to the substan- 

 ces contained in the stomach. 1. They 

 contain phosphoric acid; and 2. they 

 have the power of coagulating milk, and 

 the serum in the blood. What the co- 

 agulating substance is, has not been dis- 

 covered, but it is supposed to be not 

 very soluble in water, since the inside of 

 a calf's stomach, after being steeped in 

 water six hours, and then well washed, 

 still furnishes a liquor, on infusion, which 

 coagulates milk. 



GASTROBRANCHUS, in natural his- 

 tory, a genus of fishes, of the order 

 Cartilaginei. Generic character : mouth 

 beneath, furnished with pectinal teeth, 

 in a double row on each side : body eel- 

 shaped, carinate beneath by a soft fin, 

 two ventral spiracles. G. coccus, or the 

 hag-fish, is about five inches in length, 

 in the European seas, but, in those of 

 India, attains the length of a common 

 eel. Its appearance is very similar to 

 that of the lamprey. It is characterized 

 by the circumstance of exhibiting no tra- 

 ces of the existence of such an organ as 

 the eye. It is reported by naturalists, 

 that the hag-fish will often enter the 

 mouths of fishes fixed on the hook of 

 the angler, and gnaw a passage through 

 their bodies, devouring all but the bones 

 and skin. Its substance is so highly glu- 

 tinous, that a large vessel of sea water 

 will, in a short time after the living coecus 

 is placed in it, become of the consistence 

 of jelly. 



GATE, in architecture, a large door, 

 leading or giving entrance into, a city, 

 town, castle, palace, or other conside- 

 rable building : or a place giving pas- 

 sage to persons, horses, coaches, or wa- 

 gons, &c 



GAVELKIND, a tenure or custom be- 

 longing to lands in the county of Kent, 

 by which the lands of the father are, at 

 his death, equally divided among all his 

 sons ; or the land of a deceased brother, 

 in case he leaves no issue, among all 

 the brethren. This is by some called 



