G A h. 
GAL 
leaved; cor. silver-shaped ; caps, one-celled, 
fr.vo-valved, and elastic. There. is one spe- 
cies, an herb of Virginia. 
GALAX1A, a genus of the monodelphia 
triandiia class and order. The spethe. is 
one-valved ; cor. one-petalled, six-cleft ; tube 
capillary; stigma many parted. There are 
tw o species, herbs of the Cape. 
GALAXY, in astronomy, the via lactea, 
or milky way in the heavens : a tract of a 
whitish colour, and considerable breadth, 
which runs through a great compass of the 
heavens, sometimes in a double, but for the 
greatest part of its course in a single stream; 
and is composed of a vast number of stars, 
too minute or too remote from the earth, to 
be distinguished by the naked eye ; but are 
discovered in all parts of it, in great num- 
bers, by the assistance of the telescope. See 
Astronomy. 
G ALBANY M, a gum issuing from the 
stem of an umbelliferous plant, growing in 
Persia and many parts of Africa. 
It is sometimes met with in the shops in 
loose granules, called drops or tears, and 
sometimes in large masses, formed of a num- 
ber of these blended together ; but in these 
masses some accidental foulness is often 
mixed with the gum. The single drops 
usually approach to a roundish, oblong, pear- 
like form. Galbanum is soft like wax, and, 
when fresh drawn, white ; but it afterwards 
becomes yellowish or reddish : it is of a strong 
small, of an acrid and bitterish taste ; 
it is inflammable in the manner of a re- 
sin, and soluble in water like a gum. It 
attenuates and dissolves tough phlegm, and 
is therefore of service in asthmas and hive- 
terate coughs: it is also of great service in 
hysteric complaints ; it dissipates flatulencies. 
It is given in pills and electuaries, and is 
used externally in form of a plaster, applied 
to the abdomen, against habitual hvsteric 
complaints, and on many other occasions. 
GALEASSE, a large low-built vessel, us- 
ing botli sails and oars, and the largest of all 
the vessels that make use of the latter. It 
may carry twenty guns, and has a stern ca- 
pable of lodging a great number of marines. 
It has three masts, which are never to be 
lowered or taken down. It has also thirty- 
two benches of rowers, and to each bench 
six or seven slaves, who sit under cover. 
This vessel has latterly been only used by 
the Venetians. 
GALEGA, a genus of the class and order 
diadelphia decandria. The cal. lias tubulate 
teeth nearly equal ; legume with streaks be- 
tween the seeds. There are 19 species, some 
of them known by the name of goats’ rue. 
GALENIA, a genus of the digynia order, 
the octandria class of plants, anil in the n - 
tural method ranking under the 13th order, 
succulents. The calyx is trifid ; there is no 
corolla ; the capsule is roundish and disper- 
mous. There are two species, shrubs of the 
Cape. 
GALENIC, or Galenical, in pharmacy, 
a manner of treating diseases founded on the 
f irinciples of Galen. The distinction of ga- 
enical and chemical, was occasioned by a . 
division of the practitioners of medicine into 
two sects, which happened on the introduc- 
tion of chemistry into medicine; then the 
chemists, arrogating to themselves every 
kind of merit and ability, stirred up an op- 
position to their pretensions, founded on the 
invariable adherence of the other party to the 
antient practice. And although this division 
into two sects of galenists and chemists has 
long ceased, yet the distinction of medicines 
which resulted from it is still retained. 
Galenical medicines are those which are 
formed by the easier preparations of herbs, 
roots, &c. by infusion, decoction, &c. and 
by combining and multiplying ingredients; 
while those of chemistry draw their more in- 
timate and remote virtues by means of fire 
and elaborate preparations, as calcination, 
digestion, fermentation, &c. 
GALENISTS, in church-history, a branch 
of anabaptists, who are said to have adopted 
several arian opinions concerning the divinity 
of our Saviour. 
GALENA, in mineralogy, sulphuret of 
lead, is very common, and is found both 
in masses and crystallized. The primitive 
form of its crystals is a cube. 1 he most 
common varieties are the cube, sometimes 
with its angles wanting, and the octahedron, 
composed of two four-sided pyramids applied 
base to base. The summits of these pyra- 
mids are sometimes cuneiform, and some- 
times their solid angles are wanting. 
Its colour is commonly blueish grey like 
lead, but brighter. Streak blueish grey and 
metallic. Lustre metallic. Sometimes stains 
the lingers. Texture foliated. Fragments 
cubical. Soft; but brittle. Specific gravity 
7.22 to 7.587. Effervesces with nitric and 
muriatic acids. Before the blow-pipe decre- 
pitates, and melts with a sulphureous smell ; 
part sinks into the charcoal. It is composed 
of from .45 to .83 lead, and from .086 to .16 
of sulphur. It generally contains some sil- 
ver, and sometimes also antirhony and zinc. 
To this species is to be referred a mineral 
which occurs but rarely, called 
Compact galena. Found in mass ; some- 
times in specular plates. Texture compact. 
Fracture even. Softer than common galena. 
Specific gravity 7.444. Streak lead grey, 
brighter, and metallic. Feels soft, and stains 
the fingers. Fragments indeterminate. 
Found in Derbyshire, and in different parts 
of Germany and Italy. Often mistaken for 
plumbago or molybdena. Another species is 
Blue lead ore. This ore has hitherto been 
observed only at Zschopau in Saxony. It 
occurs rarely in mass, usually chrystallized 
in small six-sided prisms. Colour between 
indigo blue and lead grey; sometimes in- 
clining to black., Usually striated longitu- 
dinally. Internal lustre metallic. Streak 
brighter. Texture compact. Specific gra- 
vity 5.461. Before the blow-pipe melts with 
a low blue flame and a sulphureous smell, 
and is ea-ily reduced. It has not been ana- 
lysed. Its crystals resemble those of phos- 
phat of lead ; but its component parts seem 
to be the same as those of galena. Brochan 
supposes it a phosphat converted into a ga- 
lena by some unknown process. A third 
species is 
Black lead ore. This ore is found in 
Saxony, Poland, Siberia, and in different 
parts of Britain. It occurs in mass, dissemi- 
nated and cellular ; but more frequently crys- 
tallized in six-sided prisms, which are ge- 
nerally truncated and confused. Colour 
greyish black. Streak greyish black. Brittle. 
Specific gravity from 5.744 to 5.77. Before 
t A L 
the blow-pipe it decrepitates, melts easily 
.and is reduced. 
GALEOPITHECUS. Co lugo. A genus 
of quadrupeds. The generic character is 
front-teeth in the upper jaw none; in the 
lower six, short, broad, distant, pectinated; 
canine-teeth very short, triangular, broad, 
shar£, serrated; grinders four, truncated, 
and muricated with conical protuberances; 
flying-skin surrounding the body, limbs, and 
tail. 
r i I'.’.s singular animal, which, from its size 
and extraordinary conformation, claims a 
conspicuous place among the productions of 
nature, has but lately been examined with 
the degree of exactness necessary for ascer- 
taining clearly its generic characters. It is 
to Dr. Pallas that we owe the exact know- 
ledge of these particulars, and air accurate 
description, accompanied by good figures, 
may be found in the Transactions of the 
Academy of Petersburg for the year 1780. 
Galeopithecus volans, the Hying colugo, 
is a native of the Molucca and Philippine 
islands, where it is said to frequent -woody 
places, and to feed principally on fruits, ft 
almost constantly resides on trees, and makes 
use of its membranes in the same manner as 
the flying squirrel. In descending from the, 
top ot a tree, it spreads its membranes, and 
balances itself to the place it -aims at in a 
gentle manner; but in Ascending it uses a 
leaping pace. It has two young, which are 
said to adhere to its breasts by the mouth 
and claws. The whole length of the animal 
is about three feet: the breadth, when ex- 
panded, nearly the same : the tail is slender 
and about a span long. The membrane, or 
expansile skin, by which it is enabled to fly, 
is continued, on each side, from the neck to 
the fore feet ; thence to the hind feet ; and 
again to the tip of the tail : it is not naked, 
like the skin of a bat’s wing, but covered 
with fur, in the same manner as the body : 
the inner or lower side, however, appears 
membranaceous, and is marked by nume- 
rous veins and fibres dispersed through it. 
r l he whole upper side of the animal is gene- 
rally of a deep ash-colour, most so in those 
which are full-grown, and blacker in the 
younger or less advanced specimens : the 
back also, in the full-grown animals, is crossed 
transversly with blackish lines ; towards the 
edges, is commonly -a tinge of yellowish, and 
the whole under side, both of the body and 
membrane, is of a yellowish colour. * The 
head is long ; the mouth rather small ; the 
tongue, according to Dr. Pallas, fleshy, 
broad, rounded, attenuated on the edges, 
and ciliated with papilla:, as in the opossums : 
it is also slightly beset with papillae on its sur- 
face. There are no fore-teeth in the upper 
jaw, but in the lower are six, which are 
short, broad, and pretty deeply pectinated, 
so as to resemble little combs on their upper 
part : the canine teeth, or at least those 
which Dr. Pallas considers as such, are 
shaped somewhat like the petrifactions known 
by the name of glossopetne, being triangular, 
very broad at their base, very short, sharp- 
pointed, and serrated : the grinders, or mo- 
fores, which are generally four, both above 
and below, are of an abrupt or truncated 
form, and roughened with conical protuber- 
ances. The bars are small, round, mem- 
branaceous, and marked internally by nu- 
