G O R 



G O R 



It is impoirible to give the reader a proper notion of the 

 form and maimer of ufmg the gorget, witliout prcfeiitiiig 

 him with engravings of the iiiftiumcnt, and tritcriiig into a 

 defcription of the operation of hthotomy. Hcnre, we nuid 

 at prefcnt content ourfelves with referring to the furgical 

 plates, and the article Lithotomy. 



Belides cutting gorgets, conftniaed for the above defign, 

 there are alfo b'lmt ones, intended to be introduced into the 

 wound, wlicn their concavity ferves as a guide for the for- 

 ceps into tlie bladder. 



The employment of gorgets for the performance of li- 

 thotomy has been objeftcd to by fevera! eminent furgeons 

 of the prcfent day, particularly by Mr. John Bell of Edin- 

 burgh. (Sec his Principles of Surgery, vol. 2 ) We have 

 feen the operation moil cafily executed by means of a com- 

 mon fcalpel. Mr. Aftlcy Cooper iifes, inllead of a gorget, a 

 common fcalpel with a beak, which ghdes along the groove 

 of the flaff into the bladder. Several other knives and inilru- 

 ments have been at different times invented to fuperfede the 

 Torget. The principal ones «ill be reprefented in the fur- 

 gical plates, and due notice will be taken of them in the 

 article Lithotomy. 



GORGIAS, furnamed Leonlint/s, in Biography, born 

 at Leontium in Sicily, from whence he derived his fecond 

 name, was a celebrated orator and learned fophift, who 

 flouriflied in the fifth century before the Chriilian era. 

 He was a difciple of Empedocles, and is reckoned one of 

 the earlieil writers on the art of rhetoric. He is thought 

 to have introduced numbers into profe, treated of common 

 places, and (hewed the ufe of them for the invention of argu- 

 ments. Hence Plato gave the name of Gorgias to his ele- 

 gant dialogue on this fubjeA, which is ftill extant. He was 

 fo great an orator, that in public alfemblies he would under- 

 take to declaim extempore upon any iubjecT; propofcd to 

 him. In the war between Syracufe and Leontium, tlie citi- 

 zens of the latter applied to the Athenians for fuceour, and 

 employed Gorgias and Tifias as their ambaffadors, the former 

 of whom was peculiarly quahfied to influence popular affem- 

 bhes by his bold and perfuafive eloquence. On their arrival 

 at Athens about the year 427 B. C, Gorgias made an ora- 

 tion to the people on the grievances which their countrymen 

 fuffered from the people of Syracufe, and the advantages 

 which would accrue to them from fending a powerful army 

 into Sicily, by which he pcrfuadt-d them to rulh headlong 

 into a war, that proved in the end more fatal to them than 

 any in* which they had engaged. Afterwards lie made a 

 difplay of his eloquence at t!ie Olympic and Pythian games, 

 on account of which a golden ilatue was erefted to his 

 honour at Delphi. He is faid to have lived to the great 

 age of 107 or 108. 



GORGOGLIONE, in Geography, a. town of Naples, 

 in the Bafilicata ; 15 miles E. of Venofa. 



GORGONA, an ifland of fmall extent and of a circu- 

 lar form, in the Mediterranean, about 1 6 miles from the 

 coaft of Etruria. The mountains, fays Sonnini, feem to be 

 of the lame nature with thofe of the continent. This illand 

 is famous for the anchovy tifliery on its coatts. N. lat. 43 ' 

 22'. E. long 9 56'. — Alfo, an ifland in the Pacific ocean, 

 about 18 miles from the coaft of Peru, about 10 miles in 

 circumference. N. lat. 3" 36'. W. long. 77 52'. 



GORGONEUM, ro,ro;iio;, in ylntiquity, a kind of 

 mafquc ufed on the ancient theatre to repreient hideous and 

 frightful figures, in imitation of the Gorgons. Mem. Acad. 

 Infcript. tome v. p. 184. 



GORGONIA, in Zoology, a genus of Zoophytes, the 

 flem of which is coriaceous, woody, corky, horny, or 

 fosnewhat bony, and in general flexible ; the texture glafly, 



fibrous, or like ftone, ftriated, tapering, fixed at the baf?-, 

 which is dilated, and covered with vafcular or cellular flefh, 

 or bark of a fpongy and friable nature in a dried flate ; 

 the mouths or cells covering the furfacc of the flem and 

 bearing polypes. 



Thefe marine produftions were i-egardrd by the ancient'^ 

 as a clafs of plants, and defcribed as fuch by their botanifls ; 

 nor was this idea, however remote from truth, exploded till 

 f<i late a period as the eighteenth century, when the difco- 

 vcries of Peyffonel upon the nature of coral, publidu d in 

 1727, and thofe of Trembley on the hydra (or polype; 

 about fourteen years after, contributed to demonllrate, in 3 

 very explicit manner, that the gorgonice in common with 

 other /oophytes (as thefe particular bodies are now denomi- 

 nated), do not appertain to the vegetable, but animal king- 

 dom, or are at Icall the fabrication ai:d genuine habitations 

 of animals. 



Among the various obfjrvers of this curious order of 

 animal produftions, few, if any, have purfucd their invefli- 

 gations with greater difcrimination and fuctefs than pro- 

 feffor Pallas, or our own coimtryman Ellis, and his friend 

 Dr. Solander ; nor indeed can we heiitate to confefs that 

 our knowledge of tlie gorgonia tribe has beea enlarged 

 only in a very inconflderab'e degree by any of the fubfe- 

 quent authors on this fubjecl. The latert: obfervations tend 

 principally to confirm the accuracy of thofe writers who had 

 before affured us the gorgonix are the habitations of various 

 kinds of polypiferous animals, each of which refides in a 

 diilinft cell ; that they lie in general dormant or contrafled 

 during winter, and, like the bloffcms of plants, pufli forth 

 buds, and expand in their proper fcafon, which is conflantly 

 in fuinmer. The flem and branches of the gorgonia, which 

 are moll commoiilv of a fomewhat horny and flexible nature, 

 may be confidered as the true flceleton of thefe nells of habi- 

 tations, being covered witli a flcfhy or pulpy fubflance, the 

 exterior furface of which is porous. Thefe pores are the 

 mouths or openings of the cells in which the polypes are 

 lodged, and it is the number, dilpofition, and varied ftrudlure 

 of thefe, in addition to the general afpcft of the plant-like 

 ne(l of habitations, that conlHtute the moil material differ- 

 ences by whicli the various fpecies are diftinguiflied ; the 

 figure of the animal, when it can be afcertained, forming the 

 fetondary or leafl important charadler. It niay be lallly ob- 

 ferved, that the gorgoni;e differ exceedingly in fize, being 

 from one to two, or perhaps three feet in lieiglit, while 

 other fpecies in deep bays, and fimi'ar fituatioiis of the fea, 

 no lefs favourable to their growth and increafe, attain to the 

 gigantic height of ten or twelve feet, and from ttieir number 

 as well as magnitude ; their remarkable ramoie, and foliated 

 or flabelliform appearance ; interwoven flrufture, and coral- 

 like texture, form a confpicuous portion of thofe vail fub- 

 marine " groves of coral" that are fometimes feen by navi- 

 gators in the hotter regions of the globe. 



Species. 



Lkp.\difkra. Dichotomous, with crowded, imbricated, 

 refletted, campanulated florets. Miill. Gorgonia rcjeila, Pal- 

 las. Gorgonia nffili/oniiis, Gunner. Reftda marina, Bell. 



Native of the Norway teas, from eighteen inches to two 

 feet liigh ; flefli pale, with whitifli fl<in or fcales ; flem white, 

 with a flony bafe and cartilaginous branches. 



Vkuticillaui.s. Pinnate, ramofe, with alternate paral- 

 lel fubdivifions, covered with verticillaled incurved florets. 

 Miill Pallas, &c. Sea-Jl-alher, Elhs. 



From two to three feet high ; flem brittle and white, 

 with flexible branches. Native of the Mediterranean and 

 North leas. 



Placomus- 



