31'^ GEN 
®nt any new lealing, fliews they cannot be iinprefllons. 
Bacon. —A family; a race.—Thy mother’s of my 
ation: what’s flic, if I be a dog ? Skakefpeare. —Progeny; 
offspring : 
The barb’i'oiis Scythian, 
Or he tliat makes Km generation meffes 
T'o gorge his appetite, fliall to my bofom 
Be as well neighbour’d. Skakefpeare. 
A Angle fucceflion; one gradation in the fcale of genea¬ 
logical defcent.—-This generation fliall not pafs ’till all 
thefe things be fulrilled. Matt. xxiv. 34.—An age.— 
Every where throughout all generations and ages ot the 
chriflian world, no church ever perceived the word of 
God to be againfl: it. Hooker. 
Dr. Danvin, in the firft volume of hisZoonomia,has fug- 
gcfledanew hypothefisrefpectingthe my fterious functions 
oi generation. He imagines that the embryo is the produce 
of the male alone, and that the female only gives it lodg¬ 
ment and nutrition. Ke does not, however, fuppofe its fit ll 
rudiments to be a miniature of the future animal, but 
merely a Ample livingfilaraent,which receives all its parts 
by accretion. Tliis fibril, dropping among the nutritive 
particles prepared by the female, is ftimulated to adlion; 
and, bending into the form of a ring, embraces one of 
thefe particles, and coalefces with it. This new orga¬ 
nization acquires new irritabilities, choofes or rejetts 
other particles offered to it, has fenfation fuperadded to 
it, and, in proctfs of time, the powers of affociation and 
volition. Tlie living filament, being a part of tlie fa¬ 
ther, has certain propenfities belonging to him, which 
give the balls of a fimilarity of flruiture; and this is al¬ 
tered or modified by the nutritive particles derived from 
the mother. Other alterations proceed from the ima¬ 
gination of the father at the inffant of generation, —the 
extremities of the feminal glands imitating the motions 
of the organs of fenfe ; and thus the fex of the embryo 
is produced, whicli is male or female according as the 
image of the one or the other of thefe organs predomi¬ 
nated in the father’s imagination at the critical period. 
All augmentations are in confequence of an irritation or 
fenfation of a peculiar kind, which may be termed ani~ 
mal appetency, which feeks the particles that it wants; 
and this operates even after birth, and, in tlie innumer¬ 
able feries of ages, has produced all the diverfities of 
forms in animals, accommodated to their different modes 
of life ;—for the author fuppofes a perpetual progrefs 
toward pcrfeiition in ail animated beings, and imagines 
that none of them are at prefent as they originally ex- 
ifted, but have gradually arrived at the Hate in which 
we now fee them, from that of a funple and uniform 
living filament, for the infufficiency ot this hypothefis, 
fee the article CoKCEr riON, vol. v. p.4-12, and the 
correfpondent engraving. 
GENERA'l'ION, in the mathematics, is applied by 
many waiters to various arithmetical operations; or in 
geometry to the formation of dift'erent magnitudes. 
Thus 20 is the product generated of 4 and 5 ; ab that of 
a and b 4, 8, 16, &c. the powers generated of or from 
the root 2 ; and a'^, «•♦, &c. thofe from the root a. 
So alfo, a circle is generated by the revolution of a line 
about one of its extremities, a cone by the rotation of a 
right-angled triangle about its perpendicular, a cylinder 
by the rotation of a rectangle about one of its fides, or 
otherwife, by the motion ofa circle in the direction of a 
right line, and keeping always parallel to itfelf.—The 
generating line or figure, in geometry, is that which, by 
any kind offuppoled motion, may generate, or produce, 
any other figure, plane, or I'olid. Thus a line, accord¬ 
ing to Eiiclid, generates a circle; or a right-angled tri¬ 
angle, a cone, &c. and thus alfo Archimedes iiippofes 
his fpirals to be generated by the motions of generating 
points and lines; tlie figure thus generated being called 
the generant. —It is a general theorem in geometry, that 
the meufure of any generant, or figure produced by any 
GEN 
kind of motion of any other figure, or generating quan¬ 
tity, is equal to the produdf of this generating quantity 
drawn into the length of the path deferibed by its cen¬ 
tre of gravity, whatever the kind of motio'n may be 
whether rotatory, or direft, &c. In the modern analyl 
fis, or fluxions, all forts of quantities are confidered as 
generated by feme fuch motion, and the quantity hereby 
generated is called a fluent. —See Fluxions and Geo¬ 
metry. 
GEN'ERATIVE, adj. \_generatif, Fr. from genero, 
Lat.] Having the power of propagation.—He gave to 
all, that have life, a power generative, thereby to confi. 
nue their fpecies and kinds. Raleigh. —Prolific; having 
the power of produdlion; fruitful.—If there hath been 
fuch a gradual diminution of generative faculty upon 
the earth, why was there not the like decay in the pro- 
duftion of vegetables ? Bentley. 
GENERA'TOR,y. [from Lat.] The power 
which begets, caufes, or produces.—Imagination aflimi. 
lates the idea of thzgenerator into the reality in the thing 
engendered. Brown. ° 
GENE'KIC,or Generical, adj. Igenerique, Fr. from 
genu.f, Lat.] That which comprehends the genus, or 
dillinguiftes from another genus, but does not difting’uifli 
the fpecies.—Though wine differs from other liquids, 
in that it is the juice of a certain fruit; yet this is but a 
general or generic difference; for it does not diftinguifli 
wine from cy der or perry ; thefpecific diff erence of wine, 
therefore, is its prelfure from the grape. Watts. 
GENE'RICALLY, adv. [from generic. ] With regard 
to the genus, though not the fpecies.—Thefe have all 
the elfential characters of fea-lhells, and fliew that they 
are of the very fame fpecific gravity with thofe to which 
they are fo generically allied. Woodward. 
GENERO'SITY,/. \_generoflte, Fr. genercfitas, 'Ltit.'\ 
The quality of being generous; magnanimity; liberality. 
—Can he be better principled in the grounds of true 
virtue and generoflty than his young tutor is ? Locke. 
GEN'EROUS, adj. \_generofus, Lat. genereux, Fr.] 
Not of mean birth ; of good extraction; 
Your dinner, and the generous iflanders 
By you invited, do attend your perfon. Skakefpeare. 
Noble of mind ; magnanimous; open of heart.—Pray for 
others in fuch forms, wfith fuch length, importunity, 
and earneffnefs, as you ufe for yourmlf; and you will 
find all little ill-natured paflions die away, your heart 
grow great o^nd generous, delighting in the common hap- 
pinefs of others, as you ufed only to delight in your 
own. Law. 
A generous virtue of a vigorous kind. 
Pure in the laft receffes of the mind. Diyden. 
Thatgf«’ro2u boldnefs to defend 
An innocent or abfent friend. Swift. 
Such was Rofeommon, not more learn’d than good. 
With mannersgftt’rew, as his noble blood. Pope. 
It is ufed of animals. Spritely ; daring; courageous; 
So the imperial eagle does not ftay 
Till the whole carcale he devour. 
As if his hunger underltood 
That he can never want plenty of food. 
He only fucks the tafteful blood. Cowley. 
Liberal; munificent: 
Faff by the margin of her native flood, 
Whofe w'ealthy waters are well known to fame, 
Fair as the bordering flowers the princes ftood. 
And ricii in bounty as the gen'rous ftream. Heigh-. 
Strong; vigorous.—Having in a digeffiye furnace drawn 
off" the ardent fpirit from I'ome good fack, the phlegm, 
even in thisge/teretti wine, was copious. Beyle. 
Tliofe who in fouthern climes complain. 
From Pheebus’ rays tlmy fuller pain, 
Muff 
