GAS 
GAS 
GAT 
823 
Hour of a garter of the countess of Salisbury, 
"which she dropped dancing with king Ed- 
ward, and which that prince picked up ; but 
our best antiquaries think it was instituted on 
account of the victory over the French at 
Cressy, where the king ordered his garter to 
be displayed as a signal of the battle. 
GAS, among chemists, a term made use of 
to denote all the aerial and permanently 
1 elastic fluids, except the atmospheric air. See 
; Air, p. 28-35. 
GASTEROSTEUS, Stickleback, in 
ichthyology, a fish cf the order thoracici. 
; 'i'iie generic character is, body somewhat 
! lengthened: dorsal spines distinct: ventral 
I fins spiny : abdomen carinated or shielded 
on the sides, and bony beneath. There are 
eleven species : the following are the princi- 
I : 
1. Gasteyosteus aculeatus, common stic- 
kleback. This minute fish is an almost uni- 
versal inhabitant of ponds, rivers, and marsh- 
es, occurring sometimes even in salt or brack- 
ish waters. When in its full perfection of 
colour it is highly beautiful ; the gills and 
’ abdomen being of a bright red, the back a line 
olive-green, and the sides silvery. It is 
chiefly in the early part of summer that it 
appears thus decorated ; the colours in a great 
degree fading as the season advances. The 
general length of this species is about two 
inches, but it sometimes arrives to the length 
of three : tire ventral fins consist merely of 
a very strong and serrated spine on each 
side, accompanied by a single short ray. 
The stickleback or banstiekle is a fish of an 
I extremely active and vigorous nature, swim- 
] ming rapidly, and preying on the smaller kind 
of water-insects and worms, as well as on the 
| spawn of other fishes, and is from this cir- 
1 cum stance considered as highly prejudicial 
I to fish-ponds. In the Philosophical Trans- 
actions we find some observations relative to 
} the natural history of this fish by Mr. Henry 
j Baker, who informs us that it will spring oc- 
] casionally to the perpendicular height of not 
| less than a foot out of the water, and to a 
much greater space in an oblique direction, 
| when wishing to get over stones or other ob- 
: stacles. “ It is scarcely to be conceived,” 
| says this writer, “ what damage these little 
; fish do, and how greatly detrimental they are 
■ to the increase of all the fish in general 
among which they live ; ior it is with the ut- 
most industry, sagacity, and greediness, that 
: they seek out and destroy all the young fry 
! that come in their way, which are pursued 
| with the utmost eagerness, and swallowed 
j down without distinction, provided they are 
j not too large : and In proof of this I must 
i assert that a banstiekle which I kept for some 
1 time did on the 4th of May devour in five 
h?mrs time seventy-four young dace, which 
were about a quarter of an inch long, and of 
I the thickness of a horsehair: two days after, 
j it swallowed sixty-two, and would, I am per- 
suaded, have eaten as many every day, could 
I have procured them for it.” 
The stickleback is sometimes observed to 
swarm in prodigious multitudes in some par- 
J ticular parts of Europe. We are told by 
| Mr. Pennant that at Spalding in Lincoln- 
i shire, there are, once in seven years, amaz- 
j ing shoals, which appear in the Welland, and 
I come up the river in the form of a vast co- 
lumn: they are supposed to be the multi- 
tudes that have been washed out of the fens 
by the floods of several years, and collected 
in some deep hole, till, overcharged with 
numbers, they are periodically obliged to 
attempt a change of place ; the quantity is so 
great that a man employed to take them has 
got tor a considerable tune four shillings a 
day by selling them at the rate of a half- 
penny per bushel. 
2. Gasterosteus spinachia, fifteen-spined 
stickleback, is much larger than the preced- 
ing species, and of a much more slender 
form ; general length from five to six or seven 
inches ; head of a produced and somewhat 
tubular shape; hinder parts very slender 
towards the tail ; lateral line broad, and com- 
posed of a series of small, dusky lamina* or 
scuta; dorsal spines concealed at pleasure 
in a longitudinal channel; ventral tins each 
composed of two spines ; the first long, the 
next short ; native of the European seas, 
frequenting shallow places, and preying on 
marine insects, and the spawn of other fishes; 
sometimes seen in vast numbers about the 
coasts of Holland, & c. and occasionally 
used, like the common stickleback, for the 
purpose of manuring land, as well as for the 
preparation of oil for lamps, &c. 
GASTRIC Juice, among physicians, a 
thin, pellucid, spumous, and saltish liquor, 
which continually distils from the glands of 
the stomach, for the dilation of the food. 
See Digestion. 
GAS FRO BRAN C IIUS, in ichthyology, 
a genus of fishes of the order chondropte- 
rigius: the generic character is, body eel- 
shaped; mouth beneath, with numerous 
pectinate teeth ; spiracles two, beneath the 
abdomen. 1. Gastrobranchus ca*cus, blind 
gastrobranchus. The fish which constitutes 
this genus has long since been described by 
Liunaius and others under the title of myx- 
ine glutinosa, and considered as belonging 
to the tribe of vermes, in which situation it 
ranks in the latest editions of the Systema 
Natur*. Dr. Bloch, however, from accu- 
rate examination both of its external and in- 
ternal structure, has very justly considered 
it as a legitimate cartilaginous fish. The 
usual length of the European specimens is 
from four to six inches, but in the Indian 
ocean it appears to arrive at a far superior 
size, nearly equalling in this respect the com- 
mon eel. In its general appearance it bears 
a near resemblance to the lampreys, with 
which by Kahn, its first describer, it has been 
associated. It is remarkable for the total 
want of eyes, not the least vestige of any such 
organs being discoverable by the most atten- 
tive examination : the mouth, which is situ- 
ated beneath, as in the lampreys, is of an ob- 
long form ; on each side are two beards or 
cirri, and on the upper part four; in front 
of the top of the head is a small spout-hole, 
furnished with a valve, by which it can at 
pleasure be closed ; the teeth, which are si- 
tuated very deep in the mouth, and are of 
an orange-colour, as in the lamprey, are dis- 
posed on each side into a double row, in 
form of a pectinated bone; each upper row 
consisting of nine and each lower row of 
eight teeth ; and in the middle of the roof of 
the mouth is a single, sharp-pointed, and 
curved tooth; no. nostrils are discoverable; 
the body is destitute of scales, lateral line, 
and every kind o'f fin, except that which 
forms the tail ; this fin is shallow, and com- 
mencing at the lower part of the back, runs 
round the extremity of the body, and is con- 
tinued beneath as far as the vent ; the ex* 
tremity of the body, where it is surrounded 
by the caudal I’m, is taper or pointed ; be- 
neath the body, from head to tail, runs a 
double row of pretty conspicuous, equidis- 
tant pores, through which on pressure, ex- 
sudes a viscid fluid, and at somewhat more 
than a third-of the animal from the head, are 
situated beneath the body, the two spiracula, 
which consist of a pair of oval apertures. 
The manners of this fish are represented 
as highly singular; it is said to enter into the 
bodies of such tidies as it happens to find ou 
the fishermen's books, and which consequently 
have not the power of escaping its attack, 
and by gnawing its way through the skin to 
devour all the internal parts, leaving only 
the bones and the skin remaining. Another 
particularity in this animal consists in its un- 
commonly glutinous nature; if put into a 
large vessel of sea-water, it is said in a very 
short space to render the whole so glutinous- 
as easily to be drawn out into the form of 
threads; when taken out of water the gastro- 
branchus is said to be incapable ot living 
more than three or four hours. It is an in- 
habitant of the northern seas, and appears 
also to occur in those of the southern hemi- 
sphere, where, as before mentioned, it ar- 
rives at a much larger size than in the north- 
ern regions. 
2. Dombeyan gastrobranchus. Size much 
larger than the European specimens of the 
gastrobranchus caxms : head rounded, and 
broader than the body ; on the upper lip four 
beards; number of those on the lower uncer- 
tain, the specimen being described in a dried 
state ; teeth pointed, compressed, triangular, 
and disposed in two circular ranges, the ex- 
terior of which is composed of twenty-two, 
and the interior of fourteen teeth; a single 
tooth longer than the rest, and of a curved 
form in the roof of the mouth, as in the 
European species; eyes and nostrils im- 
perceptible; colour uncertain; tail round- 
ed at the extremity, and terminated bv 
a very shallow tin united with the anal. Na- 
tive of the South American seas ; observed 
by Mons. Dombey, and described by C'e- 
pede from the dried skin in the Paris mu- 
seum. 
GASTROGRAPTIY, in surgery, the ope- 
ration of sowing up wounds of the abdomen. 
See Surgery. 
GATE, in a military sense, is made of 
strong planks, with iron bars, to oppose an 
enemy. They are generally made in the 
middle of the curtin, from whence they are 
seen, and defended by the two flanks of the 
bastions. They should be covered with a 
good ravelin, that they may not be seen or 
enfiladed by the enemy. These gates, be- 
longing to a fortified place, are passages 
through the rampart, which may be shut and 
opened by means of doors and a portcullis. 
1’hey are either private or public. 
Private gates are those passages by which 
the troops can go out of the town unseen by 
the enemy, when they pass to and from the 
relief of the duty in the outworks, or on any* 
other occasion which is to be concealed from 
the besiegers. 
Public gates are those passages through the 
middle of such curtins, to which the great 
roads of public ways lead. The dimensions- 
of these are usually about 13 or 14 feet high* 
