GEN 



GkneRATION of Birds, Fijhes, Fq/fds, InfSts, Mdah, 

 MiniiaU, MuJ}:roc..is. See BjiiD, Fisii, Fossils, Insects, 

 &c. 



Generation o/"/'/<?n^j. See Fecundation and Gemma. 



Generation of Shells. See Shells. 



Generation of St onus. See Stones, Spar, Trochites, 

 and Crystals. 



Generation, in Theology. The father is faid, by feme 

 divines, to have produced liis Word, or Son, from all eter- 

 nity, by way of generation ; on which occafion the word 

 generation raifed a peculiar idea : that proceflion which is 

 really efleClcd in the way of underllandinrf, is called gene- 

 j-ation, bccaufe in virtue thereof the Word becomes like to 

 him from whom he takes his original ; or, as St. Paul ex- 

 prelfes it, is the iigure or image of his fub fiance, /. e. of 

 his being and nature. See Trinity and Person. — And 

 hence it is, they fay, that the fecond perfon in the Trinity 

 is called the Son. 



Generation is alfo iifed, though fcmewhat improperly, 

 for genealogy, or the feries of children ilTued from the iame 

 ftock. Thus the gofpel of St. Matthew commences with 

 "tlie book of the generation of Jefus Chrilt, Sec." The 

 latter and more accurate tranflators, inftcad of generation, 

 ufe the word geiicalcgy. 



Generation is alio ufed to fignify a people, race, or 

 nation, efpecially in the literal tranOations of the fcripture, 

 where the word generally occurs wherever the Latin has ge- 

 ttcralio, and the Greek y.-'.^, yiUTi;. 



Thus, " A wicked and perverfe generation feeketh a 

 fign,'' &c. " One gen^:ratio:i paiTes away, and another 

 Cometh," &c. 



Generation is alfo ufed i'l the fenfe of an age, or the 

 ordinary period of a man's life. 



Tluis we fay to the third and fourth generation. In this 

 fenfe, liiftorians ufually recki.n a generation the fpace of 

 thirty-three years, or thereabouts. See Age. 



Herodotus makes three generations in an hundred years ; 

 ■which computation appears, from the latter authors of po- 

 litical arithmetic, to be pretty juH. See Chronology and 

 PoLlTK'.\L arithmehc. 



GENERATOR, in Mnfic, fignifies the principal found 

 or faunds by which others are produced. (See Gener.\te.) 

 Thus, the lowell C for the treble of the harpfichord, be- 

 fides its oclave, will ftrike an attentive ear with its twelfth 

 above or G in alt, and with its feventeenth above, or E in 

 alt. The C, therctoi-e, is called their "generator,'' and 

 the G and E its products or harmonies. But in the approxi- 

 mation of chords for G its oftave below is fubftitiited, 

 which conftitutes a fifth from the generator, or lowell C ; 

 and for E is hkewife fubftituted its fifteentli below, which, 

 with the above-mentioned C, forms a third major. To the 

 loweil notes, therefore, exchanged for thofe in alt, by fub- 

 ilitution, the denominations of produfts or harmonies are 

 likewife given, whilil the C retains the name of their " ge- 

 nerator.'' Bat ftill, according to the fyilem of Tartini, 

 two notes in concord, which, when founded, produce a 

 th:rd, may be termed the " concurring generators" of that 

 third. 



GENERIC AL Name, in Natural Hyiory, the word ufed 

 to fignify all the fpecics of natural bodies, which agree in 

 certain cITcntial and peculiar characters, and therefore all of 

 the fame family or kind ; fo that the word ufed as the gene- 

 rical name equally expreffes every one of them, and fome 

 other words exprefTive of the peculiar quahties or figures of 

 each are added, in order to denote tliem hngly, and make up 

 what is called a fpecific name. 



Thus the word rofa, or rofe, is the generical name of the 



GEN 



whule feries of fiowcrs of that kind, wliich are diAIngujfh- 

 cd by the fpecilic names of tiie red rtjfe, the white rofe, the 

 apple rufe, &c. The ignorance of former ages, in the 

 true principles of natural hiilory, h.as occafioned the bo-- 

 dies, which arc the objects of it, to be arranged into very 

 unnatural feries under the name of genera ; and thcfe have 

 been called by names as improper as the chai'aclers they 

 were diflinguifhed by. Linnieus has done a great deal 

 in exploding the bad generical names in botany, and Ar- 

 tedi has applied his rules about the formation of thefe 

 names with very little difference to tlie fiibjctts of ichthyo- 

 logy. 



Many of the generical names of fifh, till the time of thi» 

 autlior, were fo barbarous and obfcuro, that it was not 

 eafy to trace them to tlieir original, or to find wh.ether 

 they were truly Teutonic, Englifli., Dutch, Swedifli, French, 

 Italian, Spanifh, Portuguefe, Latin, or Indian. — The ig- 

 norance of the writers on thcfe fuLjfcCts, or their too fcru- 

 pulous adherence to the cuftomc of their jjredeccffors, feem 

 to have been principally the caufes of this, and often an en- 

 tire negligence. Artedi's rules for generical names for flfli 

 are thefe : whatever iifh there are which agree in the fame 

 generical charafters, and are properly of the fame genus, 

 thefe ought all to be called by the fame generical name, their 

 differences being only expre.Ted by fpecific ones. This ap- 

 pears fo plain, fo jufl, and fo neceffary a rule, that it is al- 

 moll a fli;ime to lay it down ; yet the writers on fifh, till the 

 time of this author, had very feldom obferved it. 



Another barbarifm and impropriety in the generical names 

 of iifh among tlie old authors, is the uiing of the fame 

 words to exprefs them, Avhich are alfo the names of otlier 

 animals, quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles. Thefe are fub- 

 jetl to great objeftion ; becaufe when they a:"e ufed, it is 

 not eafy to fee, in fome cafes, whether the author is fpeak- 

 ing of a bird, a bcail, or a iifh. It is therefore one of the 

 general rules of Artedi, that all thefe names are to be abo- 

 lifhed, as alfo all thofe «hich are common to fifli, and to 

 plants, minerals, and to the tools of hufbandry, or other 

 lervices. 



Anotl-.er rule of this excellent author is, that generical 

 names that are compofed of two whole words, unnaturally 

 tied togL-ther, are to be aboliflicd, it being eafy to contrive 

 nanies iefs barbarous, and r.s exprelfive : next to thefe are 

 to be exploded thole names which are formed ot two gene- 

 rical words before in ufe, tlie one broken or cut fhort, the 

 other prefervcd entire. 



Ani)ther general rule in regard to thefe names is, that all 

 fuch as are not of either Latin or Greek origin, are to be 

 profcribed and wholly rejedled. This rule cuts oft a pro- 

 digious number of barbarous words, with which we find 

 the books of authors of former ages on thcfe iubjects 

 crowded. 



A iixth rule for the regulating generical names is, that 

 all fuch are to be aboliihed as terminate in oides, as exprelT- 

 ing a refemblance often imaginary, and often alluding to 

 fomething unknown, or rendered difficult to trace from 

 the changes which the names of other things have under- 

 gone fince the time when it was formed. Thcfe words con- 

 vi-v no idea of the charafter of the genus exprelTed by tilcm, 

 except that they are like the other thing alluded to in fome 

 external, though perhaps not effential, character : of ihis 

 kind are the rhomboides, fcorpoides, 8:c. 



A feventh rule in regard to thefe names is, tliat all fuch 

 are to be rejefted as are barely diminutives, and terminate in 

 idus or ula. Thefe convey no other idea, but that ot the 

 fifli being like fome other fifli, only Iefs : now bignefs is no 

 generical charader; therefore if this genus, and that re- 



K i ferrcd 



