G O S 



cotwcbs, which is feen to float in the air, in cleai- days in 

 autumn, and is more ohfervable in itubble-fields, and upon 

 furze and other low bufhcs. This is probably formed by the 

 flying Ipider, which, in traverfing the air for food, flioots 

 out thcfe threads from its anus, which are borne down by the 

 dew, &c. 



GOSSAMPINUS, a name given by Pliny and the an- 

 cients to a tree growing in the Eaft Indies, which produced 

 a fort of cotton, the threads of which were too fliort to be 

 fpun or carded ; fo that it ferved only for the fl^uffings of 

 beds and the like, for which it was very proper, being very 

 light and foft. It was in fome cfteem in medicine alio, to 

 recal the heat and fpirits into parts to which it was applied. 

 It IS called by Pifo arbor l^iii^era, the wool-tree, and had its 

 ancient name from the words gojppium, cotton, and^H/i/j-, the 

 pine-tree, being fomewhat like the pine in external appear- 

 ance, yet bearing a fort of cotton. 



GOSSE-Abdiaii, in Geography, a town of Nubia, on 

 the Taca/.c ; 90 miles S. of Jalac. 



GOSSEC, M. in Biography, a voluminous French mufi- 

 cal compofer of the old fchool, almofl the only lineal dc- 

 fcendant of Lulli and Rameau. He had force, fire, and 

 knowledge ; but his llyle was not that of the prefenl day, 

 either in Italy or Germany, nor could his friend, M. La- 

 borde, perfuade us, tliat " true genius is in n?ed of no fchool 

 or model. In wliatever nation a man of genius may be 

 born, he will make himfelf known, and not march with lefs 

 firmnefs, though without a guide, in the road to glory. 

 Celebrated fchools cannot give genius, that is the boon of 

 nature, and nature wants tio fchool.' Effais fur la Mus. 



Unluckily, nature alone lias never made an artiil. A good 

 painter, poet, or mufician, can never be made without edu- 

 cation, ftudy, and models. Ingenious works have been pro- 

 duced by dint of genins, but never faultlefs. The awk- 

 wardnefs of felf teaching will always appear; and taftc, ele- 

 gance, facihty, grace, and often learning, will be wanting to 

 render them perfeft. 



GOSSEINS, in Geography, a town of Thibet, on the 

 Dewah. N. lat. 30' 30'. E. long. 81=" 24'. 



GOSSELIES, a town of France, in the department of 

 Jemmape, and chief place of a canton, in tlie diftridl of 

 Charleroy. The place contains 2872, and the canton 

 12,894 inhabitants, on a territory of 100 kiUometres, in 17 

 communes. 



GOSSIPIUM. See Gossvpium. 



GOSSLAR, in Geography, a town of the kingdom of 

 Weftphalia, on the Gofe, which runs near this place into the 

 Ockar. It was a free and imperial town, having on one fide 

 the bifliopric of Hildefheim, and on the other tlie principa- 

 lity of Wolfenbuttle. It was founded in the year 922, by 

 Henry the Fowler, and part of it re -built after being de- 

 ftroyed by fire in 1728. It has four parifh churches, two 

 chapels, and two Lutheran convents. Its principal trade 

 arifes from the mines of iron and lead in the Rammcl moun- 

 tain near it; 30 miles S. of Brunfwick. N. lat. 51'- 55'. 

 E. long. 10^' 26'. 



GOSSUM, a fwelling of the thyroid gland. See Bron- 



.CUOCELE. 



GOSSWEINSTEIN, or Gos.sm.vn.steix, in Geography, 

 a town of the bifhopric of Bamberg, on the Putlach, 20 

 miles E. S. E. of Bamberg. N. lat. 49" 45'. E. long. 

 vi° iq'. 



GOSSYPIUM, in Botany, the Cotton plant. The 

 name i^ fuppofed by the learned to be of Egyptian origin, 

 and if fo, is akin to Cotnemfegiar, or Gotnemfegiar, the evi- 

 dent fource of our word Cotton, which is given as the 

 Egyptian appellation of the plant in Alpinus, de Plantis 



G O S 



TEgypti, 71. Pliny makes it a Latin word, though the 

 more common name he fays is Xylon ; the Greek |i/ao». — 

 Linn. Gen. 355. Schreb. 468. Willd. Sp PI. v. 3 803. 

 Cavan. DifT. fafc. 6. 309. Mart. Mill. Dift. v. 2. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. v. 2.453. ^^^- ^74* Lamarck. lUuftr. t. 586. 

 Gxrtn. t. 134. (Xylon ; Tourn. t. 27.) ■ Clafs and order, 

 Monadelphia Polyandria. Nat. Ord. Columnifer<i, Linn, 

 Malvaceie, Jufl". 



Gen Ch. Ca!. Perianth double : the outer of one leaf, 

 three-cleft, flattifh, largeft : inner of one leaf, cup-fliaped, 

 with five blunt notches. Cor. Petals five, inverfely heart- 

 fliaped, flat, fpreading, attached to the tube of the ftamens 

 by their bafe. Stam. Filaments numerous, connefted in 

 their lower part into a tube, feparatc and lax above, inferted 

 into the corolla ; anthers kidney-fliaped. Pijl. Germen fu- 

 perior, roundifli ; ftyle columnar, as long as the ft;amens ; 

 iligmas three or four, oblong, tliickilh. Perk. Capfyle 

 roundifli, pointed, with three or four cells and as many 

 valves, with contrary partitions. Seeds numerous, oval, 

 fringed and enveloped with long wool. 



Efl". Ch. Calyx double ; the outer three-cleft. Capfule 

 with three or four cells. Seeds enveloped in wool. 



The fpecies of Cotton, hke thofe of all plants cultivated 

 from the moft remote antiquity, in various countries, for 

 economical purpofes, are extremely difficult to define, and 

 obfcured by numerous varieties. 



Linnaeus in Sp. PI. cd. i, defines three fpecies only, 



1. G. herbaeeum. Camer. Epit. 203. Cavan. t. 164. 

 f. 2, fuppofed to be a native of the Levant, Eaft Indies, and 

 Africa, and generally cultivated in thofe countries for its 

 produce. — Leaves fivc-lobed, pointed, with one gland be- 

 neath. Stem herbaceous, nearly fmooth. — This is annual, 

 with a bufhy, branched, often zig-zag^fn;, fmooth or only 

 flightly downy. Leaves cut half-way down into three priii- 

 cipal, and two fmaller lateral, pointed rounded lobes. Tlie 

 mid-rib bears one gland at its back, about half an inch from 

 the ilalk. Flowers yeWovi, purple at the bafe. Cupfide the 

 iize of a walnut, enveloped in the calyx like a filberd. 



2. G. barbadenfe, taken up from Plukenet, t. 188. f. i. 

 Leaves three-lobed, entire, with three glands beneath. — 

 Suppofed to be a native of Barbadoes. It is at Icaft one of 

 thofe cultivated in the AVefl: Indies. The plant is in all its 

 parts larger than the foregoing ; lobes of the leaves not near 

 fo deep. 



3. G. arboreum. Cavan. t. 165. Pluk. t. 188. f. 3. 

 (Cudu-pariti ; Rheede Hort. Mai. v. i. jj. t. 31.) — 

 Leaves palmate, five-lobed ; lobes lanceolate. Stem flirubby. 

 — Native of the Eafl; Indies in a fandy foil. The woody 

 perennial Jlem, and deep-cut long-lobed leaves, whofe mid- 

 rib bears one gland, diltinguith this. The Jlowers are red- 

 difli. Tlie cotton is ufed in manufaftures. Willdenow er- 

 roneoufly quotes Alpinus here. 



His Cotnemfegiar is in the Plant. jEgypt. t. 71, not his 

 Exot. t. 38, and does not agree with the Eaft. Indian 

 plant. 



To thefe is added in Sp. PI. ed. 2. 975, 



4. G. hirfutum. Cavan. t. 167. Leaves with three or 

 five acute lobes. Stem branched, hairy. — The fynonym of 

 Tournefort is wrong. — This is faid to come from America. 

 It appears to us a hairy vai iety of the firll, for the gland on 

 the mid-rib, which Linnsus thought an exclufive mark of 

 hirfutum, is found in both. 



What Linnaeus intended by G. re/lgiofum, Syft. Nat. 



ed. 12. V. 2. 462, is rather doubtful. He defines it 



" Leaves three-lobed, acute, with one gland beneath. 

 Branches dotted with black."— We have an Eaft Indian 

 plant which anfwers to this definition, but it does not exactly 



agrv-e 



