830 
GEN 
douleer of the same, silver-laced; the hat was 
edged with broad silver lave. The horse- 
cloths and holster-caps were red, and the 
arms of the captain embroidered on the cor- 
ners of the saddle-cloths, and on the front of 
the holsters. 
> In 1762, a considerable body of men was 
raised by order of Louis XV. I he soldiers 
m!io composed it were called gensdarmes. 
And in 1792 the number was considerably 
augmented, consisting of horse and foot, and 
being indiscriminately called gensdarmes; 
but their clothing was altered to deep blue. 
r l lu ;r pay was greater than what the rest of 
ti e army enjoyed ; and when others were 
p:iid in paper currency, they received their 
subsistence in hard cash (bn argent sonant). 
'1 hey possessed these privileges on account 
ol the proofs they were obliged to bring of 
superior claims to military honour, before 
they could be enlisted as gensdarmes. Tt was 
•necessary, in fact, that every individual 
amongst them should produce a certificate 
■ol mx or eight years service. 
GENDARMES (gens d’armes) de la 
garde, a select body of men so called during 
the old government of France, and still pre- 
served in that country; but their services are 
applied to different purposes. r l hey con- 
sisted originally of a single company which 
was formed by Henry IV. when he ascended 
the throne. lie distinguished them from his 
other troops by styling them homines d’armes 
de ses ordon nances, men at arms under his 
own immediate orders. They consisted of 
men best qualified for ever v species of mili- 
tary duty, and were to constitute a royal 
squadron, at whose head the king himself 
personally engaged the enemy, as necessity 
might require, lie gave this squadron to 
bis son, the dauphin, who was afterwards king 
ot France, under the name and title of Louis 
XIII. 
GENDER, among grammarians, a divi- 
sion of nouns, or names, to distinguish the 
two sexes. 
GEXEALOGICA arbor, or tree of con- 
sanguinity, signifies a genealogy or lineage 
drawn out under the figure of a tree, with its 
root, stock, branches, &c. T he genealogical 
degrees are usually represented in circles, 
ranged over, under, and aside each other. 
r I h:s the Greeks called stemmata, a word 
■signifying crown, or garland. 
GENEALOGY, an enumeration of a se- 
ries ot ancestors, or a summary account of 
tiie relations and alliances of a person or fa- 
mily, both in the direct and collateral line. 
GENEPPA. See Gardenea. 
GENERAL, in a military sense, is an of- 
ficer in chief, to whom the prince or senate 
ot a country have judged proper to intrust 
the command of their troops. He holds this 
important trust under various titles : as cap- 
tain-general, in England and Spain ; feldt 
niareschal in Germany, or mareschal in 
France. 
In the British service the king is constitu- 
tionally, and in his own proper right, captain- 
general. He has ten aide-de-camps; every 
one of whom enjoys the brevet rank of full 
colonel in the army. Next to his majesty is 
the commander in chief, whom lie sometimes 
honours with the title of captain-general. 
During the expedition to Holland, his royai 
GEN 
highness the duke of York was entrusted 
with this important charge, 
1 he natural qualities of a general are a 
martial genius, a solid judgment, a healthv 
robust constitution, intrepidity and presence 
ot mind on critical occasions, indefatigability 
in business, goodness of heart, liberality, a 
reasonable age; if too young, he may want 
experience and prudence; if too old, he mav 
; not have vivacity enough. His conduct must 
be uniform, his temper affable, but indexible 
in maintaining the police and discipline of an 
army. 
1 he acquired qualities ofa general should be 
secrecy, justice, sobriety, temperance, know- 
ledge ot the art of w ar trom tiieorv and prac- 
tice, the art of commanding and speaking 
vvitli precision and exactness," great attention 
to preserve the lives and supply the wants of 
the soldiers; and a constant studv of the cha- 
racters of the officers ot Ins army, that he 
may employ them according to their talents. 
1 1 is conduct appears in establishing his ma- 
gazines m the most convenient places ; in 
examining the country, that lie may not en- 
gage his troops too tar, while he is ignorant 
-ot the means of bringing them off; in subsist- 
ing them, and in knowing how to take the 
most advantageous posts,' either for lighting, 
retreating, or shunning a battle. His expe- 
rience inspires his army w ith confidence, and 
an assurance ot victory; and his qualWv, by 
creating respect, augments his authority*. By 
his liberality he gets intelligence of the 
strength and designs of the enemy, and by 
this means is enabled to take .the most suc- 
cessful measures. He ought to be fond of 
glory, to have an aversion to ilattery, to 
render himself beloved, and to keep a strict 
discipline and regular subordination. 
I he office of a general is to regulate the 
march and encampment of the army; in the 
day of battle to chuse out the most advanta- 
geous ground; to make the disposition of the 
army ; to post the artillery, and where there 
is occasion, to send his’ orders by his aide-de- 
camps. At a siege he is to cause the place to 
be invested, to regulate the approaches and 
attacks, to visit the works, and to send out 
detachments to secure the convoy and fora- 
ging parties. 
General terms, among logicians, those 
which are made the signs of general ideas. 
Gen eral of horse, and Gener al of foot, 
are posts next under the general of the army, 
and these have upon all occasions an absolute 
authority over all the horse and. foot in the 
army. 
General oj the artillery, or Master Ge- 
neral of the ordnance. See Ordnance. 
General is also- used for a particular 
march, or beat of drum, being the hrst which 
gives notice, commonly in the morning early, 
for the infantry to be in readiness to march. 
General is also used for the chief of an 
order of monks ; or of all the houses and 
congregations, established under ‘the saine 
rule. Thu* we say, the general of the Fran- 
ciscans, Cistercians, &e. 
GENERALISSIMO, a supreme and ab* 
solute commander in the field. This word is 
generally used in most foreign languages. It 
was first invented by the absolute authority 
of cardinal Richelieu, when he went, to com- 
mand the French army in Italy. 
10 
GEN 
GENERATING -line or figure, mi 
geometry, is that which by its motion pro- 
duces any other plane or solid figure. Thus 
a right line moved any way parallel to itself, 
generates a parallelogram ; round a point In 
the same plane, with one end fastened in that 
point, it generates a circle. One entiie re- 
volution ot a circle, in the same plane, gene- 
rates the cycloid; and the revolution of a 
semicircle round its diameter, generates a 
sphere. 
GENERATION. See Comparative 
Anatomy, and Physiology. 
G ENESIS, among mathematicians, signi- 
fies the formafon or production of some 
figure or quantity. 
GENEVA, or Gin, among distillers, an 
ordinary malt-spirit distilled a second time 
with the addition of some juniper- berries' 
See Distillation. 
G FNlOS l OMA, a genus of the naonogy- 
nia order, in the pentandria class of plants. 
The calyx is a turbinated quinquelid perian- 
tliiuni; the corolla mouopetalpus and tubular; 
the stamina five short filaments; the anthera; 
oblong; the seeds very numerous and su ban- 
pa: la ted, placed on a filiform receptacle. 
There is one species, a native of the South 
Seas. 
GENISTA, broom, or dyer’s-weed, a 
genus of the decandria order, in the diadel- 
phia class of plants, and in the natural me- 
thod ranking under the 32d order, papiiiu- 
naceae. The calyx is bilabiate ; the upper lip 
Indented, the under one tridentate; the vex- 
illum is oblong and reilexed, or turned back 
trom the pistil and stamina. There are 17 
species, of which the most remarkable are 
the cytiso-genista, or common broom, and 
the tinctoria, or dycr’s-weed. The first is too 
well known to need description. Its youn<»- 
flowers are sometimes preserved as pickles 0 ; 
and the plant, when burnt, affords a tolerably 
pure alkaline salt. Dr. Mead relates the 
case of a dropsical patient that w as cured by 
taking half a pint of a decoction of green 
broom-tops, with a spoonful of whole white 
mustard-seed, every morning and evening. 
"1 lie patient had been tapped three times, 
and tried the usual remedies before. The 
seeds, or an infusion of them drunk freely, 
have been known to produce similar happy' 
effects ; but these are to be expected in very 
few instances. Cow s, horses, and sheep, re- 
fuse the plant. 2. The tinctoria is also a 
native of Britain. It rises with shrubby 
stalks three feet high, with spear-shaped 
leaves placed alternate, and terminated by- 
several spikes of yellow flowers, succeeded 
by pods. The branches of the plant are 
used by dyers for giving a yellow colour; 
whence it is called dyer’s-broom, green-wood, 
wood waxen, or dyer’s-weed. A dram and 
halt of the powdered seeds operates as a mild 
purgative. A decoction of the plant is diu- 
retic, and, like the former, has proved ser- 
viceable in dropsical cases. Horses, cows, 
goats, and sheep, eat it. 
GENITIVE, in grammar, the second case 
of the declension of nouns. 
GENTIAN A, Gentian, a genus of the 
digynia order, in the pentandria class of 
plants, and in the natural method ranking 
under the 20th order, rotaceax The corolla 
is monopetalo.us, the capsule bivalved and 
unilocular ; there are two longitudinal recep- 
