G At 
G A L 
GAL 
merous semicircular transverse streaks,, as 
in a bat. 'I'he legs are clothed with a soft 
yellow down : there are live toes on each 
foot, united by a common membrane, and 
terminating in large, thin, broad, very sharp 
crooked claws. This animal is said to be 
called by the Indians caguang, colugo, and 
gigtia. ft was first described by Bontius, in 
kis History of Java. He informs us that it 
is found in Guzarat, in India; that it is a 
gregarious animal, and flies principally in 
the evening ; and that its body is of the size 
ot a cat, and is covered above with a soft, 
grey fur, like that of a rabbit; that the head 
is oblong, the ears small and round, and 
that it has five strong claws on each foot, by 
which it holds firmly whatever it seizes, and 
that it feeds chiefly on fruits. Camelli, in 
his enumeration of the animals of the Philip- 
pine isles, published by Petiver in the Phi- 
losophical Transactions, describes it as about 
the size of a cat, shaped like a monkey, but 
more slender, and of the length of about three 
spans from head to tail ; but adds, that in 
Some parts it arrives at a far larger size, 
so as to equal a Chinese umbrella in expanse. 
He describes the colour on the upper parts 
as dusky, and elegantly variegated with whit- 
ish streaks on the back, running beyond 
the body over the flying membrane ; the 
face be compares to that of a monkey, and 
the manner of flight to that of a flying* squir- 
rel : Camelli adds, that the young adhere 
to the teats of the parent by their mouth and 
claws; but it is remarkable, that in his ma- 
nuscript on this subject now preserved in the 
British Museum, he expressly asserts that 
the female is furnished with two sacs or 
pouches on her belly, in which she carries 
lier young while sucking. 
Linnwus, judging of this animal’s place in 
systematic arrangement, from the figures 
and descriptions of authors, but not having 
had an opportunity of examining its generic 
characters himself, placed it in the genus 
Lemur, to which he supposed it most allied; 
but was careful, at the same time to observe, 
that, as its teeth bad not been examined, its 
real genus was, of course, not determinable. 
By the count de Button it was, with unpar- 
donable negligence, entirely omitted; n>r 
Was it till Dr. Pallas’s description in the Pe- 
tersburgh Transactions appeared, that its ge- 
neric characters were ascertained. 
GALILEANS, a sect of the Jews. Their 
founder was one Judas, a native of Galilee, 
from Which place they derived their name. 
Their chief, esteeming it an indignity for the 
Jews to pay tribute to strangers, excited his 
countrymen against the edict of the emperor 
Augustus, which had ordered a taxation or 
enrolment of all the subjects of the Roman 
empire. They pretended that God alone 
should be owned as master and lord; and in 
other respects were of the opinion of the 
pharisees: but, as they judged it unlawful 
to pray for infidel princes,' they separated 
themselves from the rest of the Jews, and 
performed their sacrifices apart. 
GALIUM, a genus of the monogynia 
order, in the tetrandria class of plants, and 
in the natural method ranking under the 
47th order, stellatse. The corolla is mono- 
petalous and plain ; and there are two round- 
ish seeds. There are 48 species, of which 
the most remarkable are, the verum^jr yel- 
low lady’s bed-straw, and the aperine, clivers 
or goose-grass, The former has a firm, erect, 
brow’n, square, stem ; the leaves generally 
eight in each whorl, linear, pointed, brittle, 
and often reflex ; branches short, generally 
two from each joint, terminating in spikes of 
small yellow flowers. It grows commonly in 
dry ground and on road-sides. The flowers 
will coagulate boiling milk; and the best 
Cheshire cheese is said to be prepared with 
them. The French prescribe them in hys- 
teric and epileptic cases. Boiled in alum- 
water, they tinge wool yellow. The roots 
dye. a red not inferior to madder ; for which 
purpose they are used in the island of Jura, 
hi the Edinburgh Medical Commentaries we 
have accounts of some violent scorbutic com- 
plaints being cured by the juice of this plant. 
Sheep and goats eat the plant ; horses and 
swine refuse it ; cows are not fond of it. 
The aperine or clivers has a square, very 
rough, jointed, very weak stem, two, three, 
or four leet long, and adhesive: the branches 
are opposite ; the joints hairy at the base. 
The expressed juice of this plant taken in- 
ternally, and the bruised leaves applied by 
way of poultice, are said to have been used 
with success as a cure for the cancer. The 
effects are, however, uncertain: the course, 
it is said, often requires to be continued for 
nine or ten months. 
GALL, in the animal ceconomy, the same 
with bi’e. See Physiology. 
Gall-bladder, called vesicula, and cys- 
tis fellea, is usually of the shape of a pear, 
and oi the size of a small hen’s egg. It is 
situated in the concave side of the liver, and 
lies upon the colon, part of which it tinges 
with its own colour. It is composed of four 
.membranes, or coats: the common coat; 
a vesicular one ; a muscular one, consisting 
of straight, oblique, and transverse fibres-; 
and a nervous one, of a wrinkled or reticu- 
lated surface within, and furnished with an 
unctuous liquor. See Anatom y. 
I'he use of the gall-bladder is to collect 
the bile, first secreted in the liver, and mixing 
with its own peculiar produce, to perfect it 
farther, to retain it together a certain time, 
and then to expel it. 
Gall, in natural history, denotes any pro- 
tuberance or tumour produced by the punc- 
ture of the insects on plants and trees of dif- 
ferent kinds. Galls are of various forms and 
sizes, and no less cliflerent with regard to 
their internal structure. Some have onlv 
one cavity, and others a number of small 
cells communicating with each other. Some 
of them are as hard as the wood of the tree 
they grow on, whilst others are soft and 
spongy ; the first being termed gall-nuts, 
and the latter berry-galls, or apple-galls. 
The general history of galls is this : an in- 
sect of the fly-kind (See Cynips), is instruct- 
ed by nature to take care for the safety of 
her young, by lodging her eggs in a woody 
substance, where they will be defended from 
all injuries: she for this purpose wounds 
the branches or leaves of a tree, and the la- 
cerated vessels, discharging their contents, 
soon form tumours about the holes thus 
made. 'I'he hole in each of these tumours, 
through which the fly has made its way, may 
tor the most part be found; and when it is 
not, the maggot inhabitant or its remains, 
are sure to be found within, on breaking the 
79 $ 
gall, It is to be observed, however, that in 
those galls which contain several cells, there 
may be insects found in some of them, 
though there is a hole by which the inhabi- 
tant of another cell has escaped. 
Oak-galls put, in a very small quantity, 
into a solution of vitriol in water, though but 
a very weak one, give it a purple or vitriol 
colour ; which, as it grows stronger, becomes 
black ; and on this property depends the 
art of making our writing-ink, as also a great 
deal of those of dying and dressing leather, 
and other manufactures. See Ink, &c. 
Gall-stones. See Concretions. 
GALLATS, in chemistry : whether gallic 
acid is capable of forming crystullizable salts 
with the different bases, is still a problem 
which chemists have not resolved. 
1. When the alkalies are dropt into a so- 
lution of gallic acid in water, or into a solu- 
tion containing gallic acid, it assumes a 
green colour. This change is considered by 
Proust as the most decisive test of the pre- 
sence of gallic acid. The same change of 
colour takes place when gallic acid is poured 
into barytes water, strontian water, or lime 
water, and at the same time a powder of a 
greenish brown colour precipitates. The 
green liquid which remains contains only 
gallic acid combined with the earth employed 
in the experiment. But if we attempt* to 
evaporate it to dryness, the green colour 
disappears, and the acid is almost completely 
decomposed. 
2. When magnesia is boiled with the in- 
fusion of nut-galls, the liquid becomes almost 
limpid, and assumes live same green colour 
as the former mixtures. From the experi- 
ments of Mr. Davy, it appears, that in this- 
case all the extract of tan is separated flora 
the infusion, together with a portion of the 
gallic acid ; and that the liquid holds in So-, 
lution nothing but a combination of that acid 
and magnesia. But in this case also the add 
is decomposed, and the green colour disap- 
pears when we attempt to obtain tire com- 
position in a dry stale. 
3. When a small portion of alum is mixed 
with the infusion of nut-galls, it separates the 
whole of the tan and extract, and leaves the 
liquid limpid and of a very pale yellowish) 
green colour. This liquid, by spontaneous 
evaporation, yields small transparent prisma- 
tic crystals, which, according to Mr. Davy, 
are supergallats of allumina. They afford 
the only instance of a gallat capable of ex- 
isting in the state of crystals. I’he quantity 
of allumina is very small ; too small to dis- 
guise the properties of the acid. 
GALLEON, in naval affairs, a sort of 
ships employed by Spain in the commerce of 
the West Indies. The Spaniards send an- 
nually two fleets ; tire one for Mexico, which 
th^y call the llota; and the other for Peru, 
which they call the galleOns. By a general 
regulation made in Spain, it lias been esta- 
blished, that there should be twelve men of 
war, and five tenders annually fitted out for 
the armada or galleons ; eight ships of 6()Q- 
tons burden each, and three tenders, one of 
100 tons, for the island Margarita, and two 
of 80 each, to follow the armada : for the 
New Spain licet, two ships of 600 tons each, 
and two tenders of 80 each ; and for the 
Honduras fleet, two ships of 500 tons each r 
and in case no fleet happened to sail any 
