640 G N O 
upright, ronncl, piirplii'Ii, branches; leaves very nai'row 
and remote, fir.uoth, and even; /himens ten, five with¬ 
out and five witliin the thipat; the flower refembles 
tliat of P.ifl'erina ; and perltajasit may bea fpeciesof Dais. 
8. Gnidia filairrentofa, or filamentous gnidia ; leaves 
elliptically ovate, very f'mooth, approximating; flowers 
in h.eads ; filaments capillary. This is a very fmooth 
ihrub, tiiberclcd with the fears of fallen leaves ; leaves 
alternate, feifile, quite entire, without apparent veins. 
There is a variety with narrower leaves, but it is eafily 
known by the filaments. 
9. Gnidia imbricata, or imbricated gnidia : leaves 
oblong, imbricated in four rows, filky ; flowers termi¬ 
nating in the axils of the leaves. Found at the Cape 
by Thunberg. 
10. Gnidia Sparrmanni, of Sparrmann’s gnidia ; leaves' 
linear-fubulate, flat above, fiiarp ; flowers in pairs, ax¬ 
illary. Branches fmooth and even, not tomentofe ; 
leaves not prickly, convex underneath, fmooth and 
even, patulous; flowers from the uppermofi; twigs, 
fmooth ; border fharp, twice the length of the tube. 
This is the Gn. pinifolia of Linnaeus. It wasobferved 
at the Cape by Sparrmann. 
11. Gnidia daphnffifolia, or dais gnidia : decandrous; 
leaves oblong, flat, quite entire ; head terminating, pe- 
diincled, involucred ; flowers five-cleft. This has the 
habit, leaves, manner of flowering, involucre, form, 
and hairinefs, of the calyx, as in Dais cotinifolia ; the 
firuifture and fituation of the parts in the flower is ex- 
actly as in this genus, but not the number ; the leaves 
are alternate, not oppolite, as in Dais ; the involucre as 
in Dais, but five-leaved. Found by Thouin in the 
ifland of Madagafcar. 
There are two varieties. «. hirfuta : leaves oblong, 
fpatulate, hirfutcly hoary ; flow'crs fmaller. 0. glabra: 
leaves oblong, alternated towards the bafe, almoft na¬ 
ked ; flowers larger. It is difficult to afeertain the li¬ 
mits betw'een Dais and Gnidia; as alio between Daphne 
and Palferina. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe are ufually increafed 
by cuttings planted during the fiimmer months in pots 
filled with light earth, plunged into a very moderate 
hot-bed, covering the pots clofely with bell or hand 
glaffcs to exclude-the air, and fhading them during the 
day. They will put out roots in fix weeks, when they 
fhoLild be gradually inured to the open air. In winter 
place them in a dry airy glafs-cafe, where they may en- 
j'oy free air in mild v/eather, and be p^rotetted from frofl 
and damp air. See Daphne. 
GNO'MA, y. [from the Greek ymay.oj, to know.] 
A (hurt inftructive lentence, a pertinent and ufcful ob- 
ferv'iiLon. Scott. 
GNOMES, J. 'With the cabalifts, a fabulous invifible 
people fuppoled to inhabit the internal parts of the 
earth. Scott. 
GNOMOLO'GIC, or Gnomolocjcal, adj. Per¬ 
taining to gnomology. 
GNOMOL'OGY, y [from the Greek yvai^-o, a fen- 
timent, and Aoyo?, adifeourfe.] A treatife on lentiment. 
GNO'MON,yi [yjiw^cy, Gr. an index.] In afirono- 
my, an inftrument or apparatus for mealuring the alti¬ 
tudes, declinations, &c. of the fun and Itars. The 
gnomon is ufually a pillar, erected upon level ground. 
F-'r making the more confiderable obfervations, both 
the ancients a^id moderns have made great ufe of it, 
efpecially the former; and many have preferred it to 
the fmaller quadrants, both as more accurate, and more 
eafily applied. The molt ancient obfervation of this 
kind extant, is that made by Pytheas, in the time of 
Alexander the Great, at Marfeilles, wliere he found the 
height of the gnomon was in proportion to the meridian 
fhadow at tlie fummer I'olllice, as 2I3-J- to 600 ; jufi: the 
lame as Galfendi found it to be, by an obfervation made 
at tiic fame place almoll two thoufand years after. 
G N O 
Ulugh Bey, king of Parthia, iifed a gnomon in 1437, 
which was one hundred and eighty Roman feet high. 
That erefited by Ignatius Dante, in the church of. St, 
Petronius, at Bologna, in 1576, was fixty-feven feet 
high. M. Cafllni erected another of twenty feet high, 
in the fame churcit, in 1655. The Egyptian obeiilks 
are alfo fuppofed to have been ufed as gnomons ; and 
it is thought by fome'modern travellers that thus was 
the very ufe they were built for. It may be added, 
that the Spaniards, in their conquefi of Peru, found 
pillars of curious and coflly workmanfliip, fet up in fe- 
veral places, by the meridian fliadows of v/hicli their 
philofophers had, by long experience and repeated ob- 
I'ervations, learned to determine the times of the equi¬ 
noxes ; which feafons of tire year were celebrated witlj^ 
great feftivity and rich offerings, in honour of the fun. 
Gnomon, in dialling, is the fiyle, pin, or cock, 
of the dial, the fhadow of which points out tlie hours, 
This is always fuppofed to reprefent th.e axis of the 
globe, to which it is therefore parallel, of coincident, 
the two ends of it pointing llraight to the north and 
fouth poles of the world. See Hor.ology. 
GNOMO'NIC, or Gnomonical, adj. Belonging to 
the art of dialling. 
GNOMO'NICS,y. lypuijj.ovmr,, Gr.] The fcience of 
dialling ; for wliich fee the article Horology. 
GNOMONOLO'GICAL, adj. Belonging to the art 
of dialling. Scott. 
GNOMONOL'OGY, y [from the Greek the 
fiyle of a dial, and Aoyo?, a difcourl'e. ] A treatife on 
dialling. Aiit muc/t ujed. 
GNOSIM'ACHY, y. [from the Greek yw7\.-„ know¬ 
ledge, and to oppofe.] In church hiitory, a 
feft who oppofed all kinds of knowledge in divinity 
acquired by ftiidy and learning. 
GNOS'SIS, orGNOSSiA, an epithet given to Ariadne, 
hecaiife Ihe lived, orwasborn, at Gnolfus. The crown 
which fhe received from Bacchus, and which was made 
a conftellation, is called Gnojjia Stella. Virgil. 
GNOS'SUS, in ancient geography, a famous city of 
Crete, the relidence of king Minos. The name of 
Gncjfia tellus is often applied to the whole ifland. Strabo. 
GNOS'TICS,y. \_gnoJiiques, Fr. gnojlici. It. and Lat. 
yiiacr-iy.Di, of Gr. knowledge.] A led! of here¬ 
tics whicli role up in the firll and fecond centuries, and 
then confified only of the philofophers of thole times, 
who formed for themfelves a peculiar fyllern of theo¬ 
logy, agreeable to the philofophy of Pythagoras and 
Plato ; to which they"accommodated all their interpre¬ 
tations of Scripture. But gnojiic afterwards became-a 
generical name for divers heretics, who, though they 
differed among themfelves as to circumltances, yet all 
agreed in fome common principles. They corrupted 
the dodirine of the gofpel by a profane mixture of the 
tenets of the oriental philofophy, concerning the origin 
of evil and the creation of the world, with its divine 
truths. Such were the 'Valentinians, Simonians, Car- 
pocratians, Nicolaitans, &c. They built their theology 
not only on the gofpels and the epilHes of St. Pan!, 
but alfo on the law of Moles and the prophets, whole 
dodlrines they grofsly perverted. T. heir perfuafion 
that evil refided in matter, as its centre and I'ource, 
made them rejedt the doctrine of the refurredtion of 
the body, and its re-umon with the immortal Ipirir. 
Their notion, that malevolent genii prelided over men, 
and occafioned dileales and calamities, wars, and defo- 
lations, induced them to apply themfelves to the Ihidy 
of magic, in order to weaken the powers or lulpend the 
influence of their malignant agents. 
The gnoftics conlidered Chrilt as tlie fon of God, and 
confequently interior to the Father, who came into the 
world for the refeue and happinefs of miferable mor- 
t.;ls, opprefled by evil beings : but they rejedted Clirilt’s 
humanity, on the principle that every thing corporeal is 
1 eHeutially 
