G E S 
asii ; here he remained in exile tli«e years, when 
through the iiiterefl; of foab, (by wliofe hand he after, 
wards fell,) he was recalled by his father. Some have 
i'uppoled tlific was a city of the name ot Gefliur fituated 
in this country ; but it does not appear fo Irom Scrip¬ 
ture, wl’.ich we have clofely followed in th.is ftatement: 
neither were the Gclhurites whom David invaded fitu- 
ated as fome have imagined ; they were fituated fouth 
of Judah, towards Shur and Egypt, though very pro¬ 
bably of the fame race with the above, and their fepa- 
ration migh.t be occafioned by the terror of the Ilrael- 
itifli anils, when tliey firft entered Palcftine. Dmt. iii. :4. 
Jofli. xiii. 2, 11-13. zSahi. iii. 3. xiii. 37-38. .xv. 8. 
1 Chron. ii. 23. iii. 2. 
GESH'URITKS, f. The inhabitants of Gefliur. 
GE'SIS, a town of Germany, in the CQunty ot Fcld- 
kirck ; four miles eaft of Feldkirck. 
GES'MOLD, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Weltplialia, and bifliopric of Ofnabruck : twelve miles 
louth-eafi: of Vorden. 
GES'NER (Conrad), a phyfician and naturalift, born 
at Zurich, in 1516. During his youth he had to fti'lig- 
gle with that indigence to which fcholars without tor- 
tune are often liable. With difficulty he obtained 
fcliool-learning in his native place ; and viliting Straf- 
burg for his improvemciit, he was obliged to become 
tlie domcflic fervant of one of the profcH'ors, who taught 
him Hebrew. He was afterwards lent with fome public 
aJiifhuicc into France, where he enlarged his fphere of 
fludy, and engaged in the inftruCtion of others. On his 
return, he ventured to indulge an amorous attachment, 
and married in his twentieth year. He taugiit boys 
their grammar for a maintenance, and at his leifure ftu. 
died books of medicine. He had already imbibed from 
a.’i uncle that ardour for botanical purfuits which was 
tlie ruling pafiion of his life. A flipend was given him 
to ftudy at Bafil, and at that univerfity he improved 
himfelf in medical knowledge and in Greek. Being in¬ 
vited to Luufanne, he there obtained the Greek profef- 
forfhip, and began to publifli in botany and materia- 
iiiedica. He then vilited Montpellier, and, after a fliort 
Ifay, went again to Bafil, where he took the degree of 
doctor of phyfic, with which he returned to his native 
city. Thenceforth Zurich was the place of his fixed 
abode; and, befldes'llie pradtice of phyfic, he was em¬ 
ployed in giving public lectures on philofophy, ethics, 
and phylics. Tliefe, howe-ver, were a fmall part of his 
labours. He took feveral journeys for the purpofe of 
examining and colleiSling plants and other objects of na- 
tural hiftory, of which he w'as the firfl: perfon upon re¬ 
cord wlio formed a mufeiim. He cultivated a botanical 
garden, which he enlarged and improved, till lie was 
unfortunately cut off by the plague in 1565, aged forty- 
nine. 
Gefncr, as a botanift, was the firft who had a clear 
notion of method, and who difeerned the e.xiilence of 
genera comprehending many fpecies, and claffes con¬ 
taining many genera. He alfo diflinguifhed various na¬ 
tural clafl'es in his book On the Collection of Plants. 
By his difeoveries of new plants, or inveftigation of 
doubtful ones, he at leaft doubled the old catalogues, 
and at his death had prepared drawings of fifteen hun. 
dred fpecies: of thefe, ibme are as elegant and accu¬ 
rate as any later ones, expreffing the botanic charabter, 
and all the parts. He very diligently ftudied the medi¬ 
cinal virtues of plants, frequently making experiments 
upon himfelf, as well as colletting practical obferva- 
tions from common ufe. Some of the mod powerful 
remedies were introduced by him into practice ; and he, 
firft of the moderns, refeued opium from the rank of 
poifons, and ftiewed it to be a fudorific, and a medicine 
of great efficacy. His principal writings under this 
head were : i. Apparatus & IhlcBus fmplidum Mtdicamtn- 
torum\ SB de Compejiiione Mcdicamcr.torum, 2. Catalogus Plan. 
\ Oh. VIII. Ho. ^23. 
G E S 5St) 
tarim, Nomina Latino, Grace, Germania, SB Gallice, proponrnS' 
3. Ennmeratio Medicamentorum pnrgnntuim, SBc. 4. Tahuia 
Colkciiomnn in Generc, in Ufum Pharmacppolonim. 3. Be je- 
CTctis Remediis Thrfaurus. 6. De Slivpium aliquot Nominihu 
vrtcribus & novis. 7. llortorum Germania Befciiptw. He 
alfo edited the llijl. Stirpium .& Adiwtaiiones in Diojeoridem 
of Valerius Cordu.^, adding many new and fine plates 
of his own ; and publifhed an Epitome of Matthiolus, 
with fuch additions of deferiptions and plates as to 
make it a mofc valuable work. His medical writings 
are cliiefly comprifed in thole on botany and materia- 
medica : but tliere are befulcs, his Lihclli tres Mcdicinales ; 
de Sanitate tuenda ; contra Luxum Conviviormn ; SB contra Np- 
tas AJfrologicas in I'enis Jecandis ; and Liiellum de LaSle SB 
Operibns lablariis. 2\fter his death appeared his EpiJlola~ 
rum Medicinal. Lib. III. edited Ir^' Cafpar Wolfius, to 
wjiich a fourtli book was afterwards added. They are 
replete with valuable obfervations, medical and bota¬ 
nical. He alfo edited feveral pieces of the ancient me¬ 
dical writers, and publifhed a collection of chiF\irgical 
writers in one folio volume. In the other branches of 
Jiatural hiftory, his great work, Hijloria Animalium, takes 
the lead. Tiiis he had intended to compri.le in fix 
books, of whicli he publiflied four : on viviparous qua¬ 
drupeds ; on oviparous quadrupeds i on birds,; and on 
filhes ami aquatics. The two remaining were to have 
been on ferpents, and'on infects, His colledtions in this 
performance are a rich tre'afure of all the knowledge 
then poft'eired on thefe fubjects. Fie wrote alfo De Fof- 
Jilibus, Gennnis, I.apidibus, Metallis, (See. Be Thermis SB Fun.'- 
tibus inedicatis Helvetia SB Germania ; and Dejeriptio Montis 
fraSli five Piloti. In philology his labours were not lefs 
conliderable. The principal weie : a Lexicon Graco-lati- 
vum ; and ;i Bibliotheca univcrjalis, feu Catalogus Librorum 
- locupleiiffinnis omnium Scriptorum, Lingua Latina, Graca, SB 
Hebraica, exfantiuin SB non-exfnntium, tolio. 
GES'NFiR (John James), profclfor'in the Caroline 
college at Zurich, born in that city in 1707, and died 
there in 1787. He dillinguiftied himfelf by feveral va¬ 
luable works on mimifmatics, and left an extenfive col- 
lettion of coins and medals to his brother, profeftbr 
John Gefner. He was author of the following works : 
I. Thefaurus Univerfalis omnium Numifmatum veterum Graco- 
runi & Romano?um, 'Vuv'ic. 1733, 4 vols. tolio. 2. Speci¬ 
men Rci Numaria, ib\d. 1735. 3. Nuniifmata Regum Mace¬ 
donia omnia qua Laboribus celcbcrrimorum Vivorum Cropkii, 
Lazii, Golzii, Patini,, Span/temii, Harduini, Begcri, IVildti, 
Haymii, Liebii, SBc. ex regiis aliifque numijmatophylaciis hacr 
tenus edita funt, additis ineditis SB nondum dejcr ’iptis, quetquot 
comparare licuit, Integra Serie kiflorica Tabulis /Finds rapre- 
fentata digejjit, deferipft SB Notis variorum doSiijJmorum Vivo¬ 
rum illujlrata edidit J. J. Gefner, 'I'uric, ,1738, tolio. 4. 
Numifnata Graca Popvlorum SB Urbium, ibid. 1739-1754, 
folio. ,5. Numifmata Regum Syria, /Egypti, Arfacidarmn, 
Populorum SB Urbium Gracia, Iniperatorum Romanorum, Latina 
SB Graca, ibid, fine anno, folio. 6. Numifnata antiqua 
Iniperatorum Romanorum Latina & Graca, ibid. 1748. 
GES'NER (John Mattliias), Britannic profellbr of 
rhetoric at Gottingen, born in 1691, at Roth, in An- 
fpach, where his father John Samuel was a clergyman. 
He received tlie firft part of his education at the gym- 
nalium of Anfpach, and foon diftinguifhed himfelf by 
a ftrong attachment to ancient literature, :is w'ell as to 
the oriental languages. He ftudied theology at Jena; 
and in 1710 began to give I'pecimens of his tal,. ''^sand 
learning by various publications. On the eftablithment 
of the univerfity of Gottingen in 1734, he was invited 
thither to be profeftbr of rhetoric ; and when the royal 
Ibciety was eftablifhed there in 1751, he was the firft 
member of the hiftorical dais; in 1753 he was appointed 
a counfellor of ftate, and in 1761 perpetual director. 
This office, however, he did not long enjoy ; as he died 
on the 3d of Auguft the fame year. His principal 
works are ; j . Philopalris Dialogns Lucianeus, cim Difputa- 
6 U lions 
