GYP 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants, having no great 
beauty, are rarely cultivated but in botanic gardens. 
They are propagated by feeds, fown in a bed of light 
earth ; and, when the plants are fit to remove, they may 
be tranfplanted into the places where they are de/igned 
to remain, and will require no other culture but to keep 
them clean from weeds; for the roots of mod forts will 
continue feveral years, and annually prodiice flowers 
and feeds. 
GYP'SUM, f. [yv-^o;, Gr.-from ona gebes, Arab.] In 
mineralogy, carbonate of lime, commonly called ala- 
bafter, or plafter of Paris. The filver medal of the So¬ 
ciety of Arts having been given, in .180,5, forextenftve 
and fuccefsful experiments of this valuable article, as a 
new manure,'i or clover, and all the varieties of grafies on 
dry lands, we lay before the public, with peculiarplea- 
fure, an extrajSf of a letter received from a refpedtable 
gentleman, high in office in New York, dated the 4th 
of March 1807, on this interefting fubjeft, whjch we 
mod earneftly recommend to the immediate notice of the 
agricultural intereffs of this nation, as the fpring and 
fummer feafons are belt adapted for the ufe of this ar¬ 
ticle, fo valuable in effeft, fo.cheap in price, and fo 
plentifully difperfed through fome parts of this king¬ 
dom, as to enfure aninexhauftible fuppfy.—“Several 
of our experimental farmers have allured me, that lands 
which have been for twenty years manured with gypfum 
are not impoverilhed by the ufe of it. About fifty miles 
up the Hudfon’s river from this city, and from thence 
to the northward, it is in general ufe, and not lefs fo 
in New Jerfey and Pennfy lvania: its efledts are wonder¬ 
ful, particularly on grafs. The crops of corn and Indian 
corn have been more than doubled by the ufe of gypfum 
inftead of liable manure. It is found to anfwer bed on 
dry, gravelly, or fandy, foils. Remote from the fea, it 
often fucceeds on any foil ; near the fea, it has an effedl 
on fome grounds, and not on others, where there is not 
any great difference in the foil. It is impoflible to give 
you any eftimate of the quantity of gypfum or plafter 
brought here from Nova Scotia. It comes free of duty, 
and the velfels which bring it have generally filh and 
other articles. There are probably from 7 fo 10,000 tons 
of Britifh (Nova Scotia and New Brunfwick) Ihipping 
employed in this trade, who, upon an average, make 
four trips each fealon; and all thefe carry more than 
their regiftered tonnage, I may fafely fay more than 
40,000 tons are brought here. Of this, however, much 
is exported again to the fouthward.”—For examples pf 
the advantageous effedls of this manure in England, fee 
the article Husbandry; and for the different fpeciesand 
properties of gypfum, lee the article Mineralogy. 
That the ancients were accuftomed to clarify their 
wine with gypfum is proved by different paflages of the 
Greek writers on hulbandry. They threw gypfum into 
their new wine; ftirred it often round, then let it Hand 
for fome time, and, when it had fettled, poured off the 
clear" liquor, it would however appear, that they had 
remarked that gypfum caufed the fpirituous part to eva¬ 
porate ; for we read that the wine acquired by it a cer¬ 
tain lharpnefs which it afterwards loft, but that the good 
effects of the gypfum were lafting. This procefs in mo¬ 
dern times has been publicly forbidden in many coun¬ 
tries, as in Spain in the year 1348. Few kinds of gyp¬ 
fum are completely faturated with the vitriolic acid; 
and at any rate we have no reafon to fuppofe that the 
ancients fought perfett gypfum for their wines. This 
method is not yet dilufed. We are told by Arvieux, 
that it is dill employed in the illand of Milo; and we 
lhall here take occalion to obferve, that fait water alfo is 
added to wine there, even at prefent. Chriftopher Vega 
reproaches the Spaniards with the ufe of gypfum; and 
it has been condemned by the modern as well as the an¬ 
cient phy ficians, fitch as Cartheufer. Our countryman, 
James Hardy, feems to fufpedt that gypfum contains 
G Y E. , 145 
lead and arfenlcal earth ; but it appears that this writer 
doubted whether our gypfum be the fame as that of the 
ancients; and indeed it is necelfary, before we ufe their 
information refpedting natural objedls, to examine care¬ 
fully whether they underftood by any name what we 
underftand by it ; and what they meant by gypfum has 
been determined neither by Stephanus, Ferber, nor Gef- 
r.;r. We however know this much, that the ancients 
burnt their gypfum, and that they formed and caff: 
images of it. In my opinion, fays profelfor Beckmann, 
“ wine cannot be poifoned by gypfum; and wine-mer- 
chants who employ it and lime deferve no feverer pu- 
nilhmei : than brewers, who, in the like manner, render 
four beer fitter to be drunk and more faleable.” 
GYRAL-'DUS. SeeGiRALDi. 
GYRA'TION, J. [ gyro, Lat.] Theadlof turning any 
thing about.—If a burning coal be nimbly moved round 
in a circle, with gyrations continually repeated, the whole 
circle will appear like fire ; the reafon of which is, that 
the fenfation of the coal in the feveral places of that 
circle remainsumprelfed on the fenforium, until the coal 
return again to the fame place. Newton. 
GYRE,/". [.gyrus, Lat.] A circle deferibed by any 
thing moving in an orbit.—The eagle in her gyres the 
clouds embrace ? Sandys. 
Quick and more quick he fpins in giddy gyres, 
Then falls, and in much foam his foul expires. Dryden. 
He faftiion’d thofe harmonious orbs that roll 
In reftlefs gyres about the Ardtic pole. Sandys. 
GY'RED, adj. Falling in rirlgs : 
Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd, 
No hat upon his head, his ftockings loofe 
Ungarter’d, and down gyred to his ankle. Skatkefpcare. 
GYR'FALCON. See the article Falco, vol.vii. 
p.189. 
GYRI'NUS,y. [yygt»o{, Gr. from yi>§o?, a round body.] 
The Glimmer Chaffer; in entomology, a genus ox 
infedts belonging to the order of coleoptera. Generic 
characters, Antennae clavated, ftiff,fliorter than the head; 
eyes apparently four, two above and two below the an¬ 
tennae. Linnaeus calls the antennae cylindrical ; but Dr. 
Shaw obferves, that, if infpedted with a magnifier, they 
will be found to confift of very numerous clofe-fet joints. 
The eyes are fo placed as to appear double on each fide 
the head ; however they are but two in all. There are 
eleven fpecies, moftly found on the furface of waters, 
on which they run and deferibe circles with great cele¬ 
rity ; when attempted to be taken, they plunge to the 
bottom, drawing after them a bubble refembling a glo¬ 
bule of quickfilver. 
j. Gyrinus natator, the water-flea. This infedt is 
about a quarter of an inch in length, of an oval lhape, 
with fomewhat fharpened extremities, and of a black or 
grey-black colour, with fo lucid a furface as to fhine 
like a piece of looking-glafs in the fun. It is an inha-i 
bitant of the waters, and is chiefly found in rivulets, 
being generally feen in great multitudes, and in very 
brifle motion. It is difficult to catch, diving with afto- 
nilhing celerity when difturbed ; the hinder legs being 
very broad, finely webbed with minute hairs, and 1110ft 
curioufly formed for exercifing the office of fins or oars. 
The larva is of a highly lingular afpedt, having a very 
lengthened body, furnilhed, exclufive of fix legs on the 
fore parts, with a great many lateral appendages or pro- 
cefles down the body ; thofe towards the extremity con- 
fiderably exceeding the reft. In its motions it is ex¬ 
tremely agile, fwimming in a.kind of ferpentine manner, 
and preying on the fmaller and weaker water-infedls, 
minute worms, &c. The head is armed with a pair of 
forceps, pierced on each fide the tip with a fmall fora¬ 
men, through which it fucks the animals on which it 
preys ; the colour of this larva is a very pale or whitilh 
a brown, 
