GEO 
foen from tlie earth, is referred. Tlie geocentric latitude 
of a planet, is its latitude as feen from the earth ; or the 
inclination of a line, connetiring- the planet and the earth, 
to the plane of the ea.rth’s ecliptic. Orjt is the angle 
which the line (connetiing the planet and the eartii) 
makes with a line drawn to meet a perpendicular let tail 
from the planet to the plane of the ecliptic. The geo¬ 
centric longitude of a planet, is the didance ineaftired on 
tlte ecliptic, in the order of the figns, between the geo¬ 
centric place and the rirft point of Aries. 
GEOCEN'TRICALLY, adv. In a geocentric manner, 
in a manner which tujtpofes the earth'to be the centre. 
GEOD^'SIA,yi [of yn, and Gr. to divide or 
didribtite. ] That part of geometry which contains the 
doctrine or art of mealuring furface's, and tinding the 
contents of all plane figures. 
GEOD.®T']CAL, (2(^7. gcodaJia.'\ Relating to 
the art of meafuring furfaccs ; comprehending or fhow- 
•ing the art of meafuring land. i 
GEOD.fET'ICALLY, adv. According to the manner 
in which furfaccs are meafured. 
GEOF'FREY of Monmouth, a writer of early 
Britifh hiftory, flourifhed under king Stephen, about the 
year 1150, and was firft arclideacon of Monmouth, and 
then blliiop of St. Afaph. On account of fome tumults 
in Wales, he quitted his diocefe, and appealed to king 
Henry II. who gave him the abbacy of Abingdon in 
commendam. Upon an application from the clergy of 
St. Afaph to return to his fee, he refufed it, thinking 
to keep his abbacy ; but this was bellowed upon ano¬ 
ther perfon, fo that he was left without a title. He 
wrote various works, of which the molt noted was liis 
Chronicon Jive Hijloria Britonum, fuppofed to be tranllared 
from an ancient hiftory in the Welfli language, brought 
from Brittany. It contains a pretended genealogy of tlie 
kings of Britain from the time of the fabled Brutus the 
Trojan, and enumerates above feventy illuftrious mo- 
narchs before the invalion of Julius Crefar. The mar¬ 
vellous relations concerning prince Arthur are chiefly 
taken from this author. Horwithllanding the manifelt- 
ly fabulous nature of Geoffrey’s work, nationahty, and 
the love of wonder, have given it popularity, fo that it 
has paiTed through feveral impreflions, and has been 
epitomifed by Ponticus Virunnius, an Italian. It is the 
opinion of judicious critics that a foundation of truth in 
it is buried under a fuperflrudture of monkifh forgeries. 
GEOFFROY' (Stephen-Francis), a pliyfician emi¬ 
nent for chemical and botanical knowledge, born in 1672, 
at Paris, where his father v/a.s an apothecary, and had 
palled through tlie principal offices of magillracy. At 
the age of twenty, Geoffroy was fent to an eminent fur- 
geon at Montpellier, and there attended upon the lec¬ 
tures of the celebrated profeflbrs of that fchool of medi¬ 
cine. He then travelled into the fouthern provinces of 
France, and viewed every objedl worthy of curiolity. 
In 1698 he accompanied the count de Tallard in his em- 
bafly to England, where he became known to the princi¬ 
pal men of Icience, and obtained adniillion into the royal 
fociety, Thence he palled into Flolland ; and in 1700 
he attended the abbe de Louvois in a tour in Italy. 
Upon his return he quitted hisoriginal dellination, which 
was that of pharmacy, and entered upon the higher or¬ 
der of the profellion, for which his education had fo well 
qualified him. He was created bachelor of phyfic in 
1702, and do£tor in 1704. The lubjects of his thefes 
were all curious : one of them, An Hominis Primordia Ver- 
mis? was thought fo interelting by fome ladies of high 
rank, that it was necelfary to tranflate it into French. 
In-this, he alTerts the fexes of plants, and fuppofes the 
llamina to be the male organs. 
Geoffroy was in no halte to commence practice. He 
continued his fludies in retirement for fome years, and 
feems never to have pulhed himfelf forwards, though 
his merit caufed him to be confulted by his brethren in 
important cafes. His extreme anxiety for his patients 
GEO 339 
gave him a melancholy air, which at firfi alarmed them, 
till they were able to make due allowances for temper. 
In 1709 the king nominated him to the poll of profelfor 
of phylic in the college royal,, vacant by the death of 
the celebrated Tournefort. He begiin his funflions by 
a courfe of Materia Medica, for which he had long been 
collecting materials. M.Fagon, in 17 i 2, refigned to Itim 
his office of profelfor of chemiltry in the royal garden, 
w'hich lie liad for fome time filled as his fubltiiute. The 
taeulty of Paris eliole him twice to the office of dean, 
wliich was at that time particularly laborious on account 
ot their dilputes witli the company of lurgeons. He 
alio occupied a place in the ro)al academy of Iciences 
from 1699, and was ailiduous in his attendance upon 
their meetings. His health at length gave way under 
ids toils, and he died in January 1721. As a ehemill, 
Geoffroy is known by the Table of Affinities which in 
1718 lie gave to the public, and wliich was the firlf of 
tlie kind. His principal work in medicine was a Hiftory 
of tJie Materia Medica, publilhed after kis death in 
three voiiunes 8vo. 1741, in Latin, and fince tranllated 
into French, Englilli, and German. Tliough an unfi- 
mlhcd work, it was the molt complete, as far as it went, 
tliat had hitherto appeared. The firlt volume contains 
all tlie mineral part ; tlie fccond, tlie exotic vegetables ; 
tlie third, tiie indigenous. He alio wrote feveral papers, 
chemical and botanical, in the Memoirs of the Academy 
of Sciences. 
GFIOF'FROY'A, f. [fo named by Jacquin, in honour 
of Monf. Geoffrey, the fubjedt of the preceding article.] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs diadelpliia, order decan- 
dria, natural order of papilionaceae or leguniiiiofie. The 
generic charadters are—Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, 
bcll-lliaped, half five-ciefi; the upper divifions diverg¬ 
ing, Ipreading. Corolla: papilionaceous; banner round- 
ilh, eniarginate, flat, reilex ; wings the fame lengtli with 
the banner, blunt, concave; keel coiiipretfed, the fame 
length and figure with the wings. Stamina: filaments 
diadelplious (iimple and nine-cleft), the length of the 
keel; antlierae rouiidilli. Piftilluin : germ roundilli ; 
ftyle fubulate ; lligma obtule. Pericarpium : drupe 
ovate, large, with a longitudinal groove on each fide. 
Seed : nut fubovate, woody, rather flatted, with a lon¬ 
gitudinal groove on each fide, acute, two-valved.— 
EJfential CharaBer. Calyx five-cleli; drupe ovate; nut 
flatted. 
Species, i. Geoftroya fpinofa, or thorny GeoffVoya : 
thoriiy ; leaflets oblong. This is a tliorny tree, fays 
Linnteus, with pinnate leaves, and a drupaceous fruit, 
refembling the peach. It is deferibed by Jacquin, as 
an inelegant tree, twelve feet high, upright, ht'anched. 
Tliorns few, aw l-fhaped, frequently an inch long, thick 
on the trunk and branches. Flowers on very lljort pe¬ 
duncles, with corollas of a dirty fulvous colour, diftuf- 
ing widely a moll fetid odour; the drupe does not ill 
reprefent the frelh fruit of an almond, the rind is very 
llightly tomentole, and of a greenilh yellow colour; the 
pulp is loft, Iweet, yellowilfi, has a nauieous finell, and 
liains the hands with ruft-colour not ealily wafhed out; 
tile nut or Hone is whitilh, adheres dole to the pulp, 
and contains a white kernel, that has a farinaceous af- 
tringent talle. A plant with papilionaceous flowers, 
and a drupe for a fruit, is a great lingularity. Native 
of Carthagena in New Spain. 
3. Geoftroya inermis, or fmooth Geoftroya : without 
thorns; leaflets lanceolate. This tree riles to a confi- 
derable height, and towards the top fends oft' feveral 
branches; the wood is hard enough to admit of being 
polilhed ; the external bark is fmooth and grey ; inter- 
nally it is black and furrowed. The fruit is a large 
fubovate drupe, incloling a woody nut. Native of Ja¬ 
maica. Introduced in 1778, by MeU'rs. Kennedy and 
Lee. In Jamaica it has the name of cabbage-bark, or 
worm-bark-tree. The bark, which has a mucilaginous 
fweetilli talle, and a.difagreeable fmell, was firlt noticed 
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