GEN 



tlir unreafoiiali'c {Irefs wJiich they lay on more external 

 obfervaiiccs of various kinds, tlierc are not \vantii;g in their 

 writings foini; excellent moral maxims, fimilar to maiiy in 

 tlie books of the Old Teftameut, which reprcfeiU every 

 tiiing of this kind as infigniliiant, without moral virtue. 

 A peculiar flrefs, we find, even too great, is laid on the 

 duties to parents ; fo as to fupcrfede the obligation, and to 

 depretiate tlie importance of other duties. Upon comparing 

 the Hindoo fyftem witli that of Mofes, the abfurdity of tlie 

 former is as apparent as the fupcrior vvifdom of the huter. 

 With the Hindoos we perceive the rudiments, and more than 

 the rudiments, of moft of the arts and fcienccs, cfpccially 

 that of aftxonomy, of wl-.ich moft other nations are wholly 

 ignorant. And yet while th.e Hebrews made no difcovcric". 

 in fcience, they had a r^hgiov perftclly rational ; and that 

 of the Hindoos was abfurd in the extreme. This, fi;rcly, 

 is an argument of the internal kind in favour of the divine 

 origin of the Hebrew religion, almoft as irrefiftible as any 

 argument from miracles. From the preceding flietch of 

 the Hindoo religion, we mnfl be led to acknowledge the 

 neccffity and utility of a divine revelation. 



Thofe who are delirous of being farther acquainted with 

 the principles, manners, and various inflitutes of the Gcu- 

 toos, may confult Holwell's IntereiUng hiftorical Events, 

 &c. 1766. Djv/'s Hil'iory of Hindcollan, 4to. 1768. and the 

 Code of Gentoo I>aws. Priellley's Com])arifon of the In- 

 ftitutions of Mofes with thofe of the Hindoos and other 

 Ancient Nations, 8vo. Northumberland, in America, i 799. 

 For a further account of the religious tenets and pracTticcs 

 of the Gentocs, fee Biiaciimaxs. See alfo Shastaii and 



ViEDAM. 



GEN-TSING, in Geography, a town of China, in Se- 

 tcliuen ; 87 miles N.W. of Hoei-li. 



GENUFLEXION, cf g.nn, Lnee, and/n7p, / haul, the 

 acl of bowing, or bending tile knee ; or rather of kneeling 

 down. 



The .Tefuit Rofweyd, in his Onomafticon, fliews, that 

 genuflexion, or kneeling, has been a very ancient cullom 

 in the churcli, and even under the Old Teftament difpenfa- 

 tion ; and that this praftice was oblerved throughout all 

 the year, excepting on Sundays, and during the time from 

 Ealler to Whitfuntide, when kneeling was forbidden by the 

 council of Nice. 



Others have fhewn, that the cuftom of not kneeling on 

 Sundays had obtained from the time of the apoftles ; as 

 appears from St. Irenseus and Tertullian ; and the ^thi- 

 opic church, fcrupuloufly attached to the ancient ceremo- 

 nics, ftill retains that of not kneeling at divine fervice. The 

 Ruffians efteem it an indecent polhire to worfhip God on 

 tlieir knees. Add, that the Jews ufually prayed ftanding. 

 Rofweyd gives the rcafons of the pnihibition cf genu- 

 flexion on Sundays, &c. from St. Bafil, Anallalius, St. 

 Juftin, &c. 



Baronius is of opinion, that genuflexion was not cfta- 

 blifhed in the year of Ciiritt 58, from that pafi'age in Aif^s 

 xx. ^6. where St. Paul is exprcfsly mentioned to kneel 

 tlov.a at prayer : but Saurin ihews, that nothing can be 

 tl.ence concluded. 



The fame author remarks, alfo, th?t the primitive Chrif- 

 tians carried the praftice of genuflexion fo far, that fome of 

 them had worn cavities in the floor where they prayed : and 

 St. Jerome relates cf St. James, that he had contradcd a 

 hardnefs on his knees equal to that of camels. 



GENUS, in Al^clra. The ancient nigebraifts didri- 

 bulcd that art into two genera, or kinds ; the iogljlk, and 

 /j:uku4 ; which fee. 



GEN 



Genu.^, in Syjlemalic Botany, from yao^,, z family, implies 

 one or moi-e fpccies of plants, differing effentiallv in their 

 parts of fnifiiBcation from all others, and agreeing' together 

 in the general flrufturc of thofe parts, as well as in one or 

 more peculiar marks or charaAers. If a genus be pcrfedly 

 natural and diftincl, fuch charafters in the fruftification are 

 accompanied with more or Icfs decided diftindions in the 

 other parts of the plant, as well as in its general habit or 

 afpedt. On this principle it is contended by Linnaeus and 

 his fchool, that all genera are, or ougiit to be, natural, and 

 that the genus ought to give the charafter, not the charafter 

 the gcTiUS. The fame principle is cxtend^J to the animal 

 kingdom. Botanills of the French fchool, on the contrary, 

 maintain that all fuch aflbciations and dittinftions are merely 

 arbitrary, ferving to facilitate the fludy of plants, but not 

 at all founded in nature. It is fingular that, with fuch 

 ideas, thefe philofcphers (liould not only ftrenuoiiHy contend 

 for a natural fyllem of anangcment, but objeft to the Lin- 

 nxan method, \:-\\ok facility cannot be difputed, merely bc- 

 caufe it is not natural, terming it in their language le-^t 

 nature. ^ If genera are not natural, certainly the ir.oi-e com- 

 prelienfive adembhiges, of fuch genera into orders and clafll-s, 

 can, in no fcnfe, be fo. We nevcrthelers do not fcruple to 

 allow, that the principles of all fuch diilindtions are founded 

 in nature, though we readily admit that no fyflcm has as 

 yet applied them correctly to praclice, even wi'th regard to 

 generic, and fr.r lefs to claflical, diftinftions. The latter in- 

 deed have been fcarcely found capable of definition, or in fo 

 vague a manner as to leave us moft in doubt where prccifioii 

 is moil wanted j and were it not for that intuitive, or :.t 

 leafl: praftical, perception of affinities and differences, whi^h 

 is, by tie French, contended to be issdmifiible in judging 

 of genera, we could certainly come at no knowledge cf 

 mod of the natural orders of thefe learned writers. 



Examples of natural genera, each charsfterized by an ef- 

 fential charaftcr of its own, which dittinguiflics it, not only 

 from every other genus in its natural order, but from every 

 one hitherto difcoveredj are found in Qutrcus the Oak, 

 whofe acorn afFoi-ds fuch a charader ; in Trapa, whofe 

 fingular quadrangular nut is armed with fpines that once 

 coi.lUtuted the calyx-leaves ; in Parnjjp.a, fo well marked by 

 the fringes and lucid balls that border its neftaries ; in Sol- 

 danflla with its many-cleft monopetalous corolla, and EUccar- 

 pus, whofe polypctalojs one is fimilurly cut ; in Geofr<ta, 

 the only known inllance of a papilionaceous flower with a 

 drupa ; not to mention a great number befides. Inftances 

 of good natural genera, dillinguiflied by fome one cflential 

 charaftcr from all others in their natural order, are found in 

 Echium, whofe irregular corolla keeps it dilUnft from all 

 otliers of the Afp rifulia ; Cornucopia, known from all other 

 grafles by its remarkable involucnnn ; Pimpinclla diftin- 

 guidied from its allies by the globofe ftiginas ; Ranunculus 

 by the neftariferous pore in the chuv of each petal ; Ftilj 

 by the jirominent dilated partition of its pouch, extendino- 

 twice as far as tlie valves ; to whidi may be added many 

 genera of the clafs Didyn.wiia Gymnofpi'rmia \ fee Smith''s 

 Introd. to Botany, 434. The Linnieau IcofmJria Pohgynia 

 affords one of the n.oit perf-d examples poffible of a' natu- 

 ral clafs and order, of which all the genera are naturr.1, .in J 

 fo well diltinguilhed in habit, that any perfon at all obfcrv. 

 aut of plants may know them by their foliage, inflorefcence, 

 or general appearance, v.-liilc their fruit aflords clear eifcn- 

 tial generic charafters. The natural family cf Orchidex, as 

 arranged by Swart/, and Brown, come verv near the fame 

 point of perfection, but their differences of habit are lefs 

 obvious. Such inllances ought to ftinuil.-ite the philofophi- 

 cal botanill to " go on from oue degree of perftiSlion to 



another,"* 



