G E S 



and was quickly Jifljnguiflicd by Iiia progrefs in the ancient 

 and orintal languages. From Anfpach he went to Jena, 

 where he exhibited his learning and talents in feveral pub- 

 lications. In lyij he was appointed co-reclor of the 

 <:fymnali!iin of V/eimar, and keeper of the public library. 

 In I 730 he accepted of the reftorfiiip of Thomas's fchoul 

 at Leipllc, and on the eflabhfhment of the univerllty- of 

 Gottingcn he was invUed to be the profefTor of rhetoric, an 

 office in which he was fo greatly diftinguiflicd, as to acquire 

 the repntation of being the moll able philulogill of the ap-e. 

 He was at the fame time made librarian and pi-eiident of the 

 German fociety, and to his infpection all the fchools of 

 Gottingen were given. On the appointment of the Royal 



G E S 



patriam." In thcfe he treats of the life and ftruflure of 

 veg;'tedjles, their propagation, fexcs, clallic motion of fome 

 of their llamens, and thcirmcthodicalclaflilication. He review! 

 the experiments and obfcrvations of Lceuwenhoeck, Mal- 

 pighi, Grew, Hales, &c. announces the liien novel fylLm of 

 Linn32us, whom, with a kind of prophetic fpirit, he calls " a 

 man dellined to reform all natural hillory." Thcfe dini-rta- 

 tJO}!3 are the bed and moll compendious epitooic poffiblc of 

 all the botanical fcieiicc of that day, in which the improve- 

 ments ot each writer are fet in the moll juil and inttrucUvtt 

 point of view for their mutual illullration. 



With all Iiis knowledge, the fubjed of our prefent ar- 

 ticle, and even his friend H:d]er, were impofed on by one 



Society at Gottmgen he was the hril member of tlie hillo- of tlie groffeft deceptions. A pcrfon prefented him with a 



rical clafs, and was afterwards appointed a couufellor of common meadow Crowfoot, on fome branches of which 



ttate, and perpetual du-eftor. He died m 1761. His were ftuck flowers of the common Daify. He imme- 



works are much too numerous to be named m this place, diately pubhihed, in 1753, a learned dilTertation on vege- 



but they were fuch as to entitle him to abnoll the highell table monilers, entitled " de Ranuncido bellidiP.oro," in 



rank in the literary world. Among others may be noted which he exhibits a figure of this llrange anomaly. As 



his " Ixidex etymologicus Latinitatis :" and his " TFie- Haller had given his fandion to the difcoverv, botauitt* 



faurus Latinx Lmgui et Eruditioms Romance," 4 vols, could fcarcely fuppofe it ivas an evident millake, till f.r 



fol. Gefner, in this elaborate work, followed the order of Jofeph Banks obtained tlie original fpecimen after Gcfner's 



Stephanas, but^addedjfuch notes and otlier improvements as death. On its being foftened with boiling water, iu tiie 



appeared neceflary. Thefe additions confift chiefly in the 

 number of remarkable phrafes and paffages from the Roman 

 claffics with illullrations. Gen. Biog. 



Ge-SXer, Solomon", was born at Bolefiau, in Silcfia, in 

 the year 1559. Having received tlieeaiiy part of hiscducation 

 at his native place, he was ftut to Breflaw to purfiie the ftudies 

 cecefFai-y to his future profelFion. From this place lie went 

 to Strafburg, where he was fo fortunate as to obtain an aca- 

 demic exhibition for five years, which he cmploved in tlie 

 fludy of philofophy, the mathematics, and tlie learned lan- 

 guages, as well the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac, as thofe 

 of Greece and Rome. He now became private tutor to a 

 noble Livonian, and when he vras 24 years of age lie was 

 admitted to the degree of M. A. In 1592, he was invited 

 to fill the theological chair in the univerlity of Wittemberg, 

 and almoll immediately entered upon the duties of his 

 office, and was at the fame time admitted to the degree of 

 D. D. He alfo occupied the important pofls of dean and 

 teAor of the univerlity, affeffbr in the ecclefiailical confillory, 

 and firll preacher in the church. His clofe application to 

 bufinefs injured his health, and he fell a facrifice to a com- 

 plication of diiorders in 1605, when only in the 46th year 

 of his age. His works are a Latin tranflation of " The 

 Prophecy of Hofea,'' " Difquilitions on the Pfalter," treat- 

 ing of the dignity, the ufe, the argument, and the connection 

 of the Pfalms, and many other works of a 

 coDtrovenlal nature. Gen. Biog. 



Gesxes, John, a canon of Zurich, and profcffor of 

 natural plulolopiiy and mathematics in that univerfity, pro- 

 bably belonged to the fame family as the great Conrad. 

 He was the intimate friend of Haller, in v.'hofe fociety he 

 ftudied at Leyden and Bafle, and with whom he maintained 



thcologicid and 



prefence of fevei-al botanills, amongll whom was the writer 

 of this, the Hera of the Rar.unailtu came out of the bafe of 

 the daify, as from a flicath ; and indeed the different pubef- 

 cence of each was very diilinguilhable before their feparaUon, 

 A hillory of the whole is given by Mr. Kouig, in his Annals 

 of Botany, v. i. 36S, with a plate drav.n for fir Jofepii 

 Banks by JMr. Bauer, and figned by all the v.'itnelTes. 



Gefner publilhed at different times eleven differtations ia 

 quarto, from 1759 to 1773, under the general title of 

 " Phytographia Sacra." Some of the latter only are illuf- 

 trative of the plants of fcripture, the reil being of a general 

 nature, containing various aintomical and phyliologlcal, aa 

 well as botanical and economical matter.' He adopts the 

 Linnaean fyllem, and funiilhes many remarks coutirminsf 

 the fexual doiflrine. 



He meditated a very extenfive work on the charaiScrs 

 of plants, for which he had prepared a confidetable number 

 of exqnilitely engraved, though too much crowded, plates, 

 fome of which are in our hands ; but tiiis publication never 

 took place. 



He wrote alfo on extraneous foffils, and compofcd aa 

 index to Weinmann's Phytographia, printed in 17S7 in 8vo. 

 A catalogue of his hbrary for fale was pubhihed in 1 798, 

 by which it appears to have been one of the bell coUedlions 

 of botanical books ever offered to the public. S. 



GE3NERIA, in Botany, named by Plumier in memory 

 of the great Conrad Gefner ; fee that article. Linn. Gen. 

 308. Schreb. 404. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 3. 230. Mart. Mill. 

 Dicl. V. 2. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 2. 33I. Juff. 165. Plum. 

 Gen. 27. t. 9. Lamarck lUullr. t. 536. Girtn. t. 177.— 

 Clafs and order, Didynam'm Angilfperm'ta. Nat. Ord. Per' 



a clofe correfpondence during the ■ hfe of that dillinguilhed /"natt, lAnn. Campamilactt, Jull. 



man. Tbeir t.iile for botany was the fame, and their 

 characters fimilar. His letters make an intereiling part of 

 the " Epiftolae ad Halleruui,'" and abound with folid and 

 curious botanical crilicifm and information. He paid much 

 attention to the cryptogamic clafs, and other difficult 

 branches of tUe fieienci-, as well as to the anatomy and piiy- 

 fiology of plants. He furvived his learned frieud 12 years, 

 dying in J 790, at the age of 81. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth of one leaf, fupcrior, in fivff, 

 deep, acute fegments, permanent. Cor. of one petal, in- 

 curved and recurved ; tube tiiickifli, with a contraction at 

 the neck and a funnel-fhaped throat ; limb tive-eleft, obtufe, 

 its upper fegments concave, or erecc, tlic three lower flat 

 and fpreading. Stam. Filaments four, raollly Ihorter than 

 the corolla, two longer than tlie others ; anthers arrow- 

 fliaped, fimple. Pyi- Germen inferior, deprefled, roundilh ; 



This author publifned two phyCological differtations on ftyle thread-fhaped, parallel to the llamens; tligraa capitate 

 plants in 1740 and 1741, reprinted at Leyden in 1743, Perk. C.iplule rountliih, crowned with the fpreading calyx, 

 along with Liunseus's " Oratio de peregrinatione jutra imperfedly two-jcellcdj the partiti«ii being longitudinally 



ioterrupteii 



