GIS 
a native of Cuba, by river sides, and called 
there rosa del rio, or river rose. 
GINSENG, in botany. See Pan ax. 
GIRDERS, in architecture, some of the 
largest pieces of timber in a floor. Their 
ends are usually fastened into summers and 
breast-summers, and joists are framed in at 
one end to the girders. The size of girders 
and summers, upon the rebuilding of Lon- 
don, were ordained by act of Parliament, 
to be in length from ten to twenty-six feet, 
in breadth from eleven to seventeen inches, 
and in depth from eight to fourteen inches. 
It was also ordained by the same statute, 
that no girder or summer should be less 
than ten inches in the wall, and that their 
ends should be laid in loam; as also that 
they be of good hearty oak, as free from 
knots as may be, because that will be the 
least subject to breaking, and may yvith 
more safety be relied on in this cross and 
transverse work. 
GIRT, in the measuring of timber, is the 
circumference of a tree, though some use 
this word for the fourth part of the circum- 
ference only, on account of the use made 
of it. The square of the fourth part is con- 
sidered as equal to the area pf the section 
of the tree, which square therefore multi- 
plied by the length of the tree is accounted 
the solid content. This content is about one 
fourth less than the true quantity, being 
nearly equal to what it will be after the tree 
is hewn square, and is probably intended to 
make an allowance for the squaring the 
tree. 
Girt, in naval affairs, the situation of a 
ship whieh is moored so tight by her cables 
as to be prevented turning to any change of 
the wind or tide, to the current of which 
her head would otherwise be directed. 
The cables, to produce this, are extended 
by a strong application of mechanical pow- 
ers within the ship, so that as she veers, 
or endeavours to swing about, her side 
bears upon one of the cables, which inter- 
rupts her in the act of traversing. 
GIRTH line, a rope passing through a 
single block on the head of the lower masts 
to hoist up the rigging, and the persons 
employed to place the rigging and cross- 
trees on the mast heads. The girth-line is 
the first rope employed to rig a ship, after 
which it is removed till the ship is to be 
unrigged. 
GISEKIA, in botany, so named in ho- 
nour of Paulus Dietericus Giseke, a genus 
of the Pentandria Pentagynia class and or- 
GLA 
der. Natural order of Succulent®. Por 
tulaceae, Jussieu. Essential character: ca- 
lyx five-leaved ; corolla none ; capsule five, 
approximating, roundish, one-seeded. There 
is but one species, viz. G. pharnacioides, 
trailing Gisekia, an annual plant, and a 
native of the East Indies.- 
GIVEN, among mathematicians and phi- 
losophers, the same with data. If a magni- 
tude be known, or we can find another 
equal to it, it is said to be given in magni- 
tude. Or when the position of any thing is 
known, it is said to be given in position : 
when the diameter or radids of a circle is 
known, the circle is given in magnitude. 
The circle is given in position, when the 
position of the centre is given. See Data. 
GLABRARIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Polyadelphia Polyandria class and order. 
Essential character : calyx five-cleft; petals 
five; nectary composed of bristles the 
length of the calyx ; stamens thirty, always 
in sixes; pericarpium a drupe. There is 
but one species, viz. G. tersa, a large tree 
resembling the camphor tree, the wood of 
which is very light and pale coloured, and 
not being liable to rot or to be injured by 
insects, it is much used for building both 
houses and ships. It is a native of the 
East Indies. 
GLACIERS. Those vast piles of eter- 
nal ice with which it has pleased the author 
of nature to crown the immense chasms be- 
tween the summits of the Alps, objects 
more grand, sublime, and terrific, than are 
any others of the phenomena of nature which 
remain stationary. These tremendous spires 
and towers of uncertain and brittle fabric, 
seem to forbid the attempts of travellers to 
explore the depth between them, or even 
the rocks and rich vallies around them ; but 
courage and perseverance have been at- 
tended with commensurate success, and we 
are enabled by their labours to learn pre- 
viously concealed wonders, and to reason 
upon the causes which produced them. In 
treating on this subject, it must be remem- 
bered, with satisfaction, that great part of 
our information is derived from the exer- 
tions of our own countrymen, ever distin- 
guished for patient investigation and intre- 
pid exploration. 
M. Bourrit, Precentor of the Cathedral 
Church at Geneva, mentions in the relation 
of his journey to the glaciers of Savoy, the 
enterprise of Messrs.Windliam and Pocock, 
in 1741, who inspired by the artless rela- 
tions of the peasants, descriptive of the 
