germ-cup (jerm'kup), n. 
germ which is a gastrula. 
germ-cell 
similar cells of a germinating organism ; a cell 
resulting from segmentation of the vitellus; a 
blastomere. 
The germ-cell assimilates the surrounding yolk, and 
propagates its kind by spontaneous fission, whence the 
first cell has been termed the primary germ-cell, and its 
progeny the derivative germ-cell. Brande and Cox. 
That germ-form of a 
See gastrula, and 
extract under germ-form. 
germ-disease (jerm'di-zez"), . Any disease 
produced by a microscopic parasite or microbe. 
germ-disk (jerm'disk), n. The germ-area of a 
germ when of a discoidal shape. In a mammal it 
is specifically the gastrodiscus of a gastrocystis ; in other 
animals it is of a different morphological character, but 
is always the seat of specially active germination after the 
formation of the original blastoderm. Also called germi- 
nal disk. 
germen (jer'men), n. [Also germin; < L. ger- 
men (germin-), a sprout, offshoot, germ: see 
germ.~\ 1. A germ ; an ovum; an egg, as of a 
bird, while still in the ovary. [Bare.] 
Thou, all-shaking thunder, . . . 
Crack nature's moulds, all germens spill at once, 
That make ungrateful man. Shak., Lear, iii. 2. 
The germen in the seed of a plant. Boyle, Works, VI. 794. 
2f. A shoot or sprout. See the extract. 
The tenant for life can cut all that is not timber, with 
certain exceptions. He cannot cut ornamental trees and 
he cannot destroy "germing," as the old law calls them, 
or stools of underwood; and he cannot destroy trees 
planted for the protection of banks and various excep- 
tions of that kind. 
L. A. Goodeve, Modern Law of Real Property, p. 49. 
3. The ovary. Compare germarium. 
germ-form (jerm'fdrm), n. The form of a germ 
at any period of its germination or development, 
with reference to its morphological value. Thus, 
the cytula, the morula, the blastula, and the gastrula are 
successive germ-forms in the history of most germs. 
This highly important and interesting germ-form is 
called the germ-cup, or the . . . gastrula. 
Ilaeckel, Evol. of Man (trans.), I. 192. 
germ-gland (jerm'gland), n. A gland that pro- 
duces germs ; an ovary or spermary ; an ovarium 
or testis; especially, a primitive indifferent 
gland which is subsequently differentiated into 
the essential glandular organ of either sex. 
In Gordius the excretory ducts of the paired germ-glands 
are in both sexes united with the hind-gut. 
Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 185. 
germ-history (jerm'his'to-ri), . The embry- 
ogeny of any given organism ; ontogeny : dis- 
tinguished from tribal history or phytogeny. 
germicidal (jer'mi-si-dal), a. [< germicide + 
-al.] Pertaining to or of the nature of a ger- 
micide ; germ-killing : as, germicidal gases. 
Some [organisms], on the other hand, are either in them- 
selves innocuous or are killed when they enter the blood, 
which is a fluid tissue and acts as a germicide ; hence the 
tissues in a healthy condition are spoken of as germicidal. 
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 680. 
germicide (jer'mi-sid), n. [< Li. germ(en), a 
germ, + -cida, a killer, < credere, kill.] That 
which destroys germs ; specifically, a substance 
capable of killing the germs, microbes, or mi- 
cro-organisms of certain zymotic diseases, as 
cholera, or used for that purpose. 
These accessions [of fever in whooping-cough] have al- 
ways with them an increase in the germs of the disease ; 
. . . they are better lessened or prevented by whatever 
aids the resisting power of the child than by ... the use 
of special germicides. Quain, Med. Diet., p. 1774. 
germiculture (jer'mi-kul-tur), n. [< L. ger- 
m(en), a germ, + cultura, culture.] The arti- 
ficial cultivation of the microscopical organ- 
isms (bacteria) connected with certain diseases. 
See germ theory, under germ. 
germiculturist (jer-mi-kul'tur-ist), n. [< ger- 
miculture + -ist.~] One who makes artificial cul- 
tures of germs, especially of bacteria; a bac- 
teriologist. 
The third point the antiseptic value of these bodies 
still remains for the germiculturwt to determine. 
Medical News, LII. 640. 
germint, n. Same as germen, 2. 
germinal (jer'mi-nal), a. [= F. germinal = Sp. 
Pg. germinal = U"germinalc, < L. germen (ger- 
min-), a sprout, offshoot, germ : see germ.] Per- 
taining to or constituting a germ ; of the nature 
of a germ or of germination ; germinative : as, 
germinal vesicles ; germinal ideas or principles. 
Those germinal ideas of making his mind tell upon the 
world at large . . . had been sprouting under cover. 
George Eliot, Middlemarch, I. 393. 
Germinal or living matter is always transparent, colour- 
less, and, as far as can be ascertained by examination with 
the highest powers, perfectly structureless, and it exhib- 
its these same characters at every period of existence. 
Beale, Protoplasm, p. 38. 
Germinal disk, a germ-disk. Germinal epithelium. 
See epithelium. Germinal membrane, a blastudermii; 
2500 
membrane or blastoderm ; also, the cell-wall of an ovum. 
Germinal pole, the central point from which develop- 
ment spreads in the ovum of some animals, as a bird >r 
mammal; the pole of a germ-area. Quain. Germinal 
spot, the nncleulus of a germ-cell or ovum. Also called 
macula germinativa and spot of Wagner, because discov- 
ered by Wagner, 1836. Germinal vesicle, the nucleus 
of an ovum, contained in the vitellus and containing the 
nucleolus or germinal spot : also called vesitl( ' /'< 
because discovered by Purkinje, Ib25. The name, like 
germinal spot, is a misnomer, as this vesicle dm !, nt 
germinate, but soon disappears, and is replaced by a nu- 
cleus which includes male elements, in ova which are fe- 
cundated and therefore able to germinate ; both terms 
are used chiefly in text-books of human anatomy. 
Germinal (zhar-me-nal'), [F., < L. gcnixn 
(germin-), a sprout, offshoot, germ : see germi- 
nal ; a.] The seventh month of the French revo- 
lutionary calendar. It commenced (in 1794) 
March 21st and ended April 19th. 
germinant (jer'mi-nant), a. [<.J-i.germinan(t-)s. 
ppr. of germinare, germinate: see germinate.] 
Germinating; sprouting; beginning to grow; 
growing; gradually developing. 
Prophecies . . . are not fulfilled punctually at once, but 
have springing and germinant accomplishment throughout 
many ages. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, 11. 139. 
May it not one day be written, for the praise of the 
American Bar, that it helped to keep the true idea of the 
state alive ana germinant in the American mind? 
R. Choate, Addresses, p. 138. 
germinate (jer'mi-nat), v. ; pret. and pp. ger- 
minated, ppr. germinating. [< L. germinatus, pp. 
of germinare (> It. germinare = Pg. Sp. germi- 
nar = OF. germiner), sprout, bud, germinate, 
< germen (germin-), a sprout, bud, germ: see 
germ.'] I. intrans. 1. To act as a germ ; begin 
to undergo development toward a more com- 
plete form or state ; form or be formed into an 
embryo, as an impregnated ovum. 2. Specif- 
ically, to sprout ; bud; shoot; begin to vegetate 
or grow, as a plant or its seed. 
Their tree of life shall germinate. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 135. 
The preceptor will sow the seeds of that taste which will 
soon germinate. Goldsmith, Cultivation of Taste. 
II. trans. To cause to sprout ; put forth; pro- 
duce. [Bare.] 
In the leafy months of June and July several French 
departments germinate a set of rebellious paper-leaves, 
named Proclamations, Resolutions, Journals, or Diurnals, 
"of the Union for Resistance to Oppression." 
Carlyle, French Rev., II. iv. 1. 
gerontes 
i/ir>i/inate + -ive.] Pertaining to, consisting in, 
constituting, or capable of germination; ger- 
minal. 
germinet (jer'min), r. i. [ME. germinen; < OF. 
germiner, germinate : see germinate.] To ger- 
minate ; sprout. 
But save the gemmes in the summyte, 
That hnpe of future <irrmynyng may be. 
Palladia, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 119. 
germ-layer ( jerm' UV'er), n. In biol. , any blasto- 
derrnic membrane or blastoderm ; any layer of 
cells, forming a membrane, which enters into 
the structure of a germ in its early stages. The 
flrst is the single blastoderm of a blastula or vesicular mo- 
rula. By invagination this germ-form becomes a gastrula, 
with two germ-layers, the hypoblastic blastodermic layer, 
or endoderm, and the epiblastic blastodermic layer, or ec- 
toderm ; development between which twt> of a third meso- 
blastic layer of cells, or mesoderm, and subsequent split- 
ting of this in to an inner and an outer layer, called splanch- 
nopleureandsomatopleure, results in the four germ-layers 
of most metazoic animals. Names of special germ-layers 
or germ-membranes are : blastophylla, epiblagt, mesoblast, 
hypoblast, endoderm, ectoderm, memderm, somatopleure, 
tplanehnopleure, etc. They are also called layers, as skin- 
layer, serous layer, etc. See cuts under gastrula and gas- 
trulation. 
The Metazoa can alone be considered as true animals, 
and the origin from two primary germ-layers may be held 
to form the primary character of the animal kingdom. 
Ilaeckel, Evol. of Man (trans.X I. 68. 
germ-membrane (jerm'menr'bran), n. A germ- 
layer. 
germon (jer'mon), n. [< NL. germo; origin ob- 
scure.] Orcynus germo, a fish of the family 
Scombridtf, closely related to the common tunny. 
germ-peg (jerm'peg), n. A corruption of gem- 
I"U- 
germ-plasma (jerm'plaz"mji), n. Protoplasm 
peculiar to a germ or ovum, and supposed to 
influence or determine the character of the re- 
sulting organism, by virtue of its special chem- 
ical or molecular composition. Germ-plasma may 
thus be considered, theoretically, as the physical basis of 
all the phenomena which are grouped under the name of 
heredity. 
The germ-plasma is regarded as a substance of peculiar 
chemical or even more special molecular composition, 
which passes over from one generation to another. 
Jour. Roy. Micros. Sac., 1886, p. 213. 
germ-pore (jerm'por), n. In cryptogamic bot., 
a pore or pit in the outer integument of a spore, 
through which the exit of the germ-tube takes 
place. 
Many of these pores serve as places of exit for the tubu- 
lar outgrowths from the spore at the time of germination, 
and may therefore be termed germ-pores; others perform 
no such function, and are therefore only simple pores or 
pits. De Bary, Fungi (trans.), p. 100. 
germination (jer-mi-na'shon), n. [< ME. ger- 
minacion = F. germination == Sp. germinacion = 
Pg. germinayelo = It. germinazione, < L. germina- 
tio, sprouting forth, budding, < germinare, pp. 
germinatus, sprout, bud: see germinate.'} The - --_.... 
act, process, or result of germinating; the evo- germ-shield (jenn'sheld), n. Same as notaspis. 
lution of a germ or seed ; the formation of an 
embryo from an ovum. 
The perpetual leaven and germinations, the thrusting* 
forth and swelling of his senses. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 12. 
Specifically, in hot. : (n) The process of development of the 
embryo of a seed into a perfect plant. The conditions ne- 
cessary for germination are the presence of moisture, free 
oxygen, as in atmospheric air, and warmth. Moisture 
softens the integuments of the seed and relaxes the tissues 
of the embryo, at the same time dissolving such nutrient 
matters in the seed as sugar, dextrine, etc., in readiness 
for their assimilation by the embryo. The absorption of 
oxygen is necessary 
for the chemical 
changes which al- 
ways accompany 
growth. The degree 
of warmth needed to 
excite to action the 
vital forces of the 
plant varies in dif- 
ferent species, some 
seeds, as those of 
wheat, being capa- 
ble of germinating 
upon melting ice, 
while others require 
a temperature of 
over 60 F. During 
germination various 
chemical changes 
take place in the 
starch and other 
insoluble material stored up for the use of the embryo in 
the cotyledons or in the albumen of the seed, rendering 
them soluble and fit for assimilation, which changes are 
usually accompanied by an increase of temperature, as is 
seen in the process of malting. As an immediate result 
of the growing process thus excited and carried on in the 
seed, a root is produced which strikes downward, fixing 
itself in the soil and beginning to absorb thence nourish- 
ment for the new plant. At the same time the other ex- 
tremity of the axis of growth is directed upward and de- 
velops a stem and leaves. (6) The similar development 
of a plant from the spore in cryptogams, (c) The early 
period of growth in a bud, as of a bulb or of a rhizome. 
(d) The protrusion and growth of the pollen-tube from 
the pollen-grain. 
germinative (J6r'mi-na-tiv), a. [= F. germina- 
tif= Pr. germinatiu = Pg. It. germinativo; as 
Seeds Germinati 
shows a plant whi 
above ground. 
The central figure 
has newly appeared 
The germ-shield is merely the earliest rudiment of that 
dorsal part which first becomes defined. 
Haeckel, Evol. of Man (trans.), I. 298. 
germ-Stock (jenn'stok), n. Same as stoloproli- 
fer. 
germ-tube (jerm'tub), n. In cryptogamic bot., 
a tubular or thread-like growth first formed by 
a spore in germination, which by continued de- 
velopment and cell-division in one or more di- 
rections becomes the thallus. In fungi the 
germ-tube may develop into either the ordinary 
mycelium or a promycelium. 
germule (jer'mul), n. [< germ + dim. -ule.~\ 
A germ ; especially, a small or incipient germ. 
The majestic tree of human thought can never be com- 
prehended unless regard is had to the formless germule 
of the psychical life of the zoophite, and ascending evolu- 
tion is followed up in the animal series. 
Tr. for Alien, and Neural, VI. 495. 
germ-vesicle (jerm'ves*i-kl), n. In embryol, 
a germ in a vesicular state. It is either (a) a true 
germ-vesicle or blastula, preceding gastrulation, as in most 
animals, or (6) an intestinal germ-vesicle or gastrocystis, 
peculiar to mammals ; in the latter case it follows gastru- 
lation, and is generally confounded with a blastula; it is 
what is called in human anatomy the blastodermic vesi- 
cle. See blastosphere, gastrocystis, and cut under gastru. 
ItlU'ni. 
gern, P. and n. See girn. 
gernet, . and a. See yearn. 
gerocomia (jer-o-ko'mi-a), n. [NL. : see ge- 
rocom;/.'] Same as gerocomy. 
gerocomical (jer-o-kom'i-kal), a. [< gerocomy 
+ -ic-al.~\ Pertaining to gerocomy. [Bare.] 
gerocomy (je-rok'o-mi), n. [= F. gerocomie, < 
NL. gerocomia, short for "gerontocomia (cf. LL. 
gerontocomium, < LGr. yepovroKoftetov, a hospital 
for old men, < Gr. yipav (yepovr-), an old man, 
+ Ko/telv, take care of.] Medical discussion of 
the proper regimen for old people. [Bare.] 
gerontes (ge-ron'tes), n. pi. [Gr. -yepovrcf, pi. 
of ycpuv (yepovr-), an old man.] In Gr. antiq., in 
Porian states, members of an aristocratic as- 
sembly of elders called the gerusia. Thegeru 
