G E R 



The fcnate of- gerontcs were caWcd sfriifa, that is, affembly 

 or council of old men. 



The gerontes wore originally inftituted by Lycurgus: their 

 Bumbcrt according; to lome, was twenty-eight ; and, accord- 

 ing to others, tliirty-two. They governed in conjiinftion 

 wfth the kin;;, whole authority they were intended to ba- 

 lance, and to watch over ll'.e intorells of the pcojile. Poly- 

 biiis defines their office in few words, v.h>:n he fays, " per 

 ipfos, ct cum ipfis omnia ad-.tiiniftrati." None were to be ad- 

 mitted into tliis office nnder fixty years of age. and they 

 held it for life. They were fucceeded by the Ephori. 



GERONTESSA, in Cfop;:/Jjy, a fmall ifland in the 

 gulf of Engia ; four mile:; foutii of Engia. 



GERONTOXON. in Surgny, a little ulcer, (haped Fke 

 the head of a dart, and making its appearance occafionally 

 on the cornea of old perfons. The term is derived from 

 yjfiv, an eld pi-rfnn, and ro^c;, a f/nr/. 



GEROPOGON, in Z?o/^ny,from yspv, an old man, and 

 Ti-j/i;, a beard, alluding to the long hoary down of the feed. 

 Linn. Gen. 398. Schrcb. yij.WiUd. Sp. PI. v. 3. 1491. Mart. 

 Mill. Dic^. V. 2. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 3. no. JulT. 170. 

 Lamarck. Illuftr. t. 646. Giirrtn. t. 160.— ChU's and order, 

 SyngeiKJ'ia Polygamia-aquaHs. Nat. Ord. Compofil£ Sem'fiofcu- 

 loft, Lin:-;. Ctchoraccit, .luff. 



Gen. Ch. Common calyx fimple, of numerous upright, lan- 

 ceolate, fomewhat awl-ihaped, keeled leaves, longer than the 

 corolla. Cor. compound, fomewhat imbricated, ur.ifcjvm ; 

 each floret hermaphrodite, with a corolla of one petal, ligu- 

 late, abrupt, live-toothed ; the outer ones equal in n-imber to 

 the calyx-leaves, inner ones fewer and fliortcr. Stim. Fila- 

 ments live, very fnort ; anthers united into a cylindrical tube. 

 J'tjl. Germen oblong ; ftyle tliread-fliaped, the length of the 

 ftamcns ; iHgmas two, thread-fliaped, recurved. Pa'ic. none, 

 except the permanent, oblong, upright, gaping calyx. 

 , Seeds of the circumference awl-lhaped, as long as the calyx ; 

 their crown ftalked, of five fpreadnig rough briiUes : thofe 

 of the diik awl-(haped, but Ihorter, their crown feathery. 

 Recept. naked. 



EIT. Ch. Receptacle naked. Calyx fimple, of many leaves. 

 Seeds of the dilk with a feathery crown ; thofe of the cir- 

 cumference with one of five nsktd rays. 



Obf. Lii.nxus originally dofcribed the receptacle as naked, 

 which is confirmed by Ga:rtncr, Willdenow, and Jacquin. 

 Afterwards he -attributed chaffy fcales to this part, v.hich is 

 adopted by Schreber, but, as we believe, without founda- 

 tion. Jacquin, in coiilideration of the etymology, properly 

 makes this genus, as well as 'I'mgopogon and AndropOj^on, of 

 the mafculine gender. 



Two certain fpecies of C eropogon o\-\^' are krown. They 

 have the clofell natural affinity to Tragopogon, but differ in 

 the briftly, not feathery, crown of tlieir external row of 

 feeds. The gunus is merely artificial, as not at all fupport- 

 ed by habit, nur is the difference in the croxen of the lecds 

 greater than what occurs amongtl indubitable fpecies cf one 

 genus in others of this natural order. 



I. G. glaber. Linn. Sp. PI. 1 109. Jacq. Hort. Vind v. i. 

 t. ^3. — " Leaves fniooth.'' — Native cf Italy and the Levant, 

 .onietimes kept in botanic gardens for curlofity only. It is 

 annual, with a branched^?™, 12 or 18 inches high, clothed 

 with many alternate, clai'ping, long, graffy, Imoolh haves, 

 each branch terminated by a Imall, mcoiifpicuous, pale pink 

 Jloiver, hke the pink hawkweed, but far lels handlome. Tlie 

 feeds are larger and more remarkable. The herb abounds 

 with milky bitterilh juice. Nothing can be more clofely 

 allied than this plant to Tragopogon porrij'olius of Linnxus : 

 ■^ee Engl. Bot. t. 638. 



G E R 



2. G.hhfuUn. Linn. Sp.P!. 1109. (Tragopogon gi-ami- 

 neo folio, fuaverabente flore ; Column. Ecphr. t. 231.) — 

 " Leaves hairv " — Found by Columna, \\\\o alone of all 

 botaniils feeins actually to have fecn this fpecies in a wood of 

 v>'ild pear-trees near Cirinola in It^ly, flowering in May. It 

 appears to differ from the preceding, chiefly in the roughncfs 

 of its hives, which neverth^lefs is fo precifely and forcibly 

 indicated by Columna, th.at we dare not prelunie it not to 

 be a fufficient diftinftion. All arthors have adopted this 

 plant from Columna, nor had Linn-^us a fpecimen. 



A third fpecies occurs in recent writers, G. calyadalits ; 

 Linn. Syrt. Veg. cd. 13. 592. (Tragopogon calyculatus; 

 .Tacq. Hort. Vind. v. 2. 48. t. 106.) This was received by 

 Jacquin from Italy, and he fent a fpecimen to Linnaeus, wha 

 referred it to Geropogon. The habit is that of a Scorzonera. • 

 Rsit perennial. Vlonvcr-JlalJ:, calyx, and upper leaves hairy. 

 Calyx of a double row of fcales, fliorter than the corolla, 

 which is yellow. Crown of the fe:d fllghtly hairy, and, as 

 far as we can perceive, uniform. — This is certainly no genu- 

 ine Geropogon, nnd we are convinced it is the identical iVor- 

 zon.-ra hirfuta of Linnaeus, well figured in Columna'i 

 Ecphrafis, t. 233, though unfortunately we cannot prove it 

 to demonilration, there being no fpecimen of the latter in 

 the Linna:an herbarium. The plant in qucllion is however 

 the Geropogon hirfutus of Allioni, Fl Pedem. v. i. 229, as 

 his fynonyms faew, tliough he took it to be annual. S. 



GERRARD, in Geography, a county of Kentucky, in 

 America, corvtaining 6083 inhabitants, of whom 1234316 

 flaves. 



GERRARDS, Peter vax Zyl, in Biography, a painter, 

 born at Amlterdam in 1607. He came to England and lived 

 in the fame houie with Vandyke on terms of friendfliip 

 and intimacy. He ftudied his manner lucccfsfully, and oa 

 his return to Amfterdam was fo highly thought of, as ta 

 bear the name of the fecond Vandyke. 



GERRES, Geruli, or Gholl, in Jchthyclogy, name* 

 given by the Venetians to a fifli common in that part of the 

 world. It is tiie fm.aris, or ma;na alba of authors. Artedi 

 very judicioudy makes it a fpecies of the fparus, and diftia- 

 guifhes it from others, by its having a black fpot on each Cde, 

 and the peftoral and tail-fins red. 



GERRHA, Tip-p,, among the Greeks, wicker hurdles, 

 refembling the Roman rinf.*, which the Romans held over their 

 heads to (helter themlelves. 



GERRH.jE, or GeRhhi, in Ancient Geography, a people of 



Scythia, in Europe, S. of the Danube Alio, a people of 



Afiatic Sarmatia, not far from the Cafpian fea. 



GERRHUS, a river of Sarmatia, which runs into the 

 Pains Ma-otides. — Alfo, a river of Afia, in Albania. 



GERRI, in Geography, a town of Spain, in Catalonia; 

 27 miles N. of Balanguer, — A Ho, a town of Africa, in 

 Nubia, fituated on the Nile ; containing about 140 houfesj 

 150 miles N.N.E. of Sennaar. N. lat. 16 15. E. long. 33^ 

 GERRISH, a fmall iiland, near cape Neddock, dole to 

 the main land of the diftiift of Maine, in America. 



GERRY, a townffiip of America, in the Hate of the Maf- 

 fachufetts, and county of Worcelier ; incorporated in 1786, 

 and containing 14,000 acres ot land, m which arc 802 inlia- 

 bitants ; 30 miles N.W.of Worceilcr. 



GERS, a river of France, which riles near La Bartbc de 

 Neiles, in the department of the Upper Pyrer.ces, tra\erfes 

 the department of tlie Gers, and runs into the Garonne, 

 about three miles S.E. of Agen. 



Gers, one of the nine departments of the fouth-well, or 

 Garonne region of France, bounded on the N. by the de- 

 partment of the Landes and the Lot and Garonne, on th? 

 E. by the department of the Upper Garonne, on tjie S. by 

 3 th« 



