ORE 



ORE 



GRAVITY, in music, is the modifica- 

 tion of any sound, by which it becomes 

 deep or low in respect of some other 

 sound. The gravity of sounds depends 

 on the thickness and distension of the 

 chords, or the length and diameter of the 

 pipes, and in general on the mass, extent, 

 and tension of the sonorous bodies. The 

 larger and more lax the bodies, the slow- 

 er will be the vibrations and the graver 

 the sounds. 



GREASE. See FARRIERY. 



GREAT circle sailing, the manner of 

 conducting a ship in, or rather pretty near 

 the arch of a great circle, that passes 

 through the zenith of the two places, viz. 

 from whence she came, and to which she 

 is bound. 



GREEK church. In the eighth century 

 there arose a difference between the east- 

 ern and western churches, which, in the 

 course of about two centuries and a half, 

 ended in a total separation. The Greek, 

 or Eastern, or, as it is sometimes called, 

 the Russian Church, spread itself over the 

 eastern parts of Europe. It bears a con- 

 siderable resemblance to the church of 

 Rome, but denies the infallibility and su- 

 premacy of the Pope : it rejects also the 

 worship of images, and the doctrine of 

 consubstantiation,ortheunionofthe body 

 of Christ with the sacramental elements. 

 The administration of baptism is perform- 

 ed by immersing the whole body. The 

 Greek church has the same division of 

 clergy, and the same distinction of ranks 

 and offices, with the church of Rome. 



GREEN, one of the original colours ex- 

 cited by the rays of light. See CHROMA- 

 TICS, COLOUHS, and OPTICS. The green 

 colour of plants has been shown, by the 

 French chemists, to depend upon the ab- 

 sorption of carbonic acid, and it is sup- 

 posed that the leaves of plants have the 

 power of decomposing the carbonic acid, 

 and water also ; the oxygen they emit, 

 while the carbon and hydrogen enter into 

 the composition of the inflammable parts 

 of the plant. 



GREEN Brunswick, a pigment used by 

 German artists, and known in our shops 

 under that name. It is made by saturat- 

 ing cold water with muriated ammonia, 

 and adding three times as much copper 

 clipping as ammonia. The moisture is to 

 be evaporated, taking care that no dust 

 be allowed to get to it. The muriate of 

 ammonia is decomposed by the copper, 

 which is itself corroded and converted 

 into a green oxide. It is then to be diges- 

 ed in successive portions of alcohol, as 

 long as any green oxide is taken up ; the 



solutions are now to be added together, 

 and the liquor to be driven off by a mo- 

 derate heat ; the residue is the pigment 

 required. 



GREEK cloth, a board or court of jus- 

 tice, held in the counting-house of the 

 king's household, composed of the lord- 

 steward, and officers under him, who sit 

 daily. To this court is committed the 

 charge and over-sight of the king's house- 

 hold in matters of justice and govern- 

 ment, with a power to correct all offen- 

 ders, and to maintain the peace of the 

 verge, or jurisdiction of the court-royal; 

 which is every way about two hundred 

 yards from the last gate of the palace 

 where his Majesty resides. It takes its 

 name, board of green-cloth, from a green 

 cloth spread over the board where they 

 sit. Without a warrant first obtained 

 from this court, none of the king's ser- 

 vants can be arrested for debt. 



GREEN finch. See FRINGILLA. -> 



GREENHOUSE, or conservatory, a 

 house in a garden contrived for sheltering 

 and preserving the most tender and curi- 

 ous exotic plants, which r in our climate, 

 will not bear to be exposed to the open 

 air during the winter season. These are 

 generally large and beautiful structures, 

 equally ornamental and useful. 



GREGORIAN calendar, that which 

 shows the new full moon, with the time 

 of Easter.and the moveable feasts depend- 

 ing thereon, by means of epacts, disposed 

 through the several months of the Grego- 

 rian year. 



GREGORIAN epoch, the epocha, or time 

 whence the Gregorian calendar or com- 

 putation took place. The year 1808 is 

 the 226th year of that epocha. 



GREGORIAN year, the Julian year cor- 

 rected, or modelled in such a manner, as 

 that three secular years, which in the 

 Julian account are bissextile, are here 

 common years, and only every fourth se- 

 cular year is made a bissextile year. 



The Julian computation is more than 

 the solar year by eleven minutes, whichin 

 one hundredand thirty-one years amounts 

 to a whole day. By this calculation, the 

 vernal equinox was anticipated ten days 

 from the time of the general council of 

 Nice, held in the year 325 of the Chris- 

 tian aera, to the time of Pope Gregory 

 XIII. who therefore caused ten days to 

 be taken out of the month of October, 

 in 1582, to make the equinox fall on 

 the twenty -first of March, as it did at 

 the time of that council ; and to prevent 

 the like variation for the future, he 

 ordered that three days should be abat- 



