is formed of two strong posts fixed firmly in the ground, about twenty feet high and about forty from each other. Over these is fastened the strong beam AB, to which are fastened the ropes, poles, &c. The mast a is also fixed in the ground, and to it two ladders b, b, are attached. To the great cross beam, A B, are fastened two poles d, e, two thick ropes f, g, and a rope ladder h. The standing place, i, is useful as a resting place, and to accustom the nerves to look down without fear from a considerable height. The first thing for pupils to attend to in climbing is to be able to ascend and descend the ladder quickly, without fear, and carrying up with them some burden. When they can easily do this they may begin to ascend and descend the inside of the ladder; this also being accomplished, let them endeavour to descend it with their hands only. The last exercise on the ladder is to ascend it with the bands, the feet mean while hanging loose; this indeed requires considerable exertion, for the whole weight of the body must not only be supported but raised by one arm only, while the other catches at the second step above the head. Climbing the rope ladder is much more difficult than is generally supposed, for, the bottom of the ladder hanging loose, a person unaccustomed to it receives no support from his feet, but rather trouble as they fly from under him and give his arms very strong jerks. By degrees, however, he learns to keep his feet stretched out, and thus to avail himself of their assistance. The gymnast may now begin to climb the upright pole; this is done by alternately holding on and raising the arms and legs, and requires nothing but a tight hold by the legs and a strong pull with the arms. On the slant pole it is more difficult, as the weight of the body depends more on the arms. Climbing the mast is still more difficult, as it cannot be grasped by the hands, and therefore the climber must lay fast hold of his left arm with his right hand, and his right arm with his left. The other methods of climbing the ropes, &c., are better learned by practice and actual inspection than any instructions, however detailed. See Plate I, GYM NASTICS. WRESTLING is sometimes included in the gymnastic exercises, but to this it is our intention to give a separate article. See WREST LING. GYMNOPYRIS, in natural history, a name given by Dr. Hill to pyrite of a simple internal structure not covered with a crust. See PYRITES. Of these there are only two species: 1. A green variously shaped kind. 2. A botryoid kind. The first is the most common of all the pyritæ, and appears under a great diversity of shapes. It is very hard and heavy, readily gives fire with steel, but will not at all ferment with aquafortis. The second is very elegant, its usual color is an agreeable pale green; but what most distinguishes it is, that its surface is always beautifully elevated into tubercles of various sizes, resembling a cluster of grapes. Yuuvos and GYMNOSPERMOUS, adj. TEQμa. Having the seeds naked. GYMNOSOPHISTS, Greek, Tvμvoropins, i. e. a naked philosopher A set of Indian phi losophers, famous in antiquity, so called from their going naked. There were some of these sages in Africa; but the most celebrated of them were in India. They believed the immortality and transmigration of the soul: they placed the chief happiness of man in a contempt of the goods of fortune and the pleasures of sense, and gloried in having given faithful and disinterested counsels to princes and magistrates. It is said that when they became old and infirm, they threw themselves into a pile of burning wood, in order to prevent the miseries of an advanced age. One of them, named Calamus, thus burnt himself in the presence of Alexander the Great. Apuleius describes the gymnosophists thus:They are all devoted to the study of wisdom, both the elder masters and the younger pupils; · and what to me appears the most amiable thing in their character is, that they have an aversion to idleness and indolence: accordingly, as soon as the table is spread, before the food be brought, the youths are all called together from their several places and offices, and the masters examine them what good they have done since the sun-rise: here one relates something he has discovered by meditation; another has learned something by demonstration; and those who have nothing to allege why they should dine, are turned out to work fasting.' The great leader of the gymnosophists, according to Jerome, was one Buddas, or Butta, who is ranked by Suidas among the Brahmins. He makes Buddas the preceptor of Manes the Persian, the founder of the gymnosophists. The African gymnosophists dwelt upon a mountain in Ethiopia, near the Nile, without either house or cell. They did not form themselves into societies, but each had his private recess, where he studied and performed his devotions by himself. If any person had killed another by accident, he applied to these sages for absolution, and submitted to whatever penances they enjoined. They lived solely upon the fruits of the earth. Lucan ascribes to these gymnosophists several discoveries in astronomy. The Indian gymnosophists dwelt in the woods, where they lived upon the wild products of the earth, and never drank wine nor married. Some of them practised physic, and travelled from one place to another; these were particularly famous for their remedies against barren ness. Some of them, likewise, pretended to practise magic, and to foretel future events. GYMNOSPERMIA. See BOTANY. GYMNOTUS, in ichthyology, a genus of fishes belonging to the order of apodes. They have two tentacula at the upper lip: the eyes are covered with the common skin; there are five rays in the membrane of the gills; the body is compressed, and carinated on the belly with a fin. There are nine species, the most remarkable of which is the G. electricus, or electric eel, called by the French anguille tremblante. This fish is a native of the warmer regions of Africa and America, where it inhabits the larger rivers, and is particularly found in those of Surinam. In Africa it is said chiefly to occur in the branches of the river Senegal. It is a fish bearing a general resemblance to a large eel, though somewhat L L thicker in proportion, and of a much darker color. It is usually seen in the length of three or four feet. A very accurate description of this fish was given by Dr. Garden in the Philosophical Transactions of 1775, who had three of them in his possession. 'To catch the gymnoti with nets,' says Humboldt, is very difficult, on account of the extreme agility of the fish, which bury themselves in the mud like serpents. We would not employ the barbasco, that is to say, the roots of the piscidia erythrina and jacquinia armillaris, because, wher thrown into the pool, they intoxicate or benum these animals. These would have enfeebled the gymnoti; the Indians therefore told us, that they would fish with horses. We found it difficult to form an idea of this extraordinary manner of fishing; but we soon saw our guides return from the savannah, which they had been scouring for wild horses and mules. They brought about thirty with them, which they forced to enter the pool. The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs makes the fish issue from the mud, and excites them to combat. These yellowish and livid eels, resembling large aquatic serpents, swim on the surface of the water, and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A contest between animals of so different an organisation furnishes a very striking spectacle. The Indians, provided with harpoons and long slender reeds, surround the pool closely; and some climb upon the trees, the branches of which extend horizontally over the surface of the water. By their wild cries, and the length of their reeds, they prevent the horses from running away, and reaching the bank of the pool. The eels, stunned by the noise, defend themselves by the repeated discharge of their electric batteries. During a long time they seem to prove victorious. Several horses sink beneath the violence of the invisible strokes which they receive from all sides in organs the most essential to life; and, stunned by the force and frequency of the shocks, disappear under the water. Others, panting, with mane erect, and haggard eyes, expressing anguish, raise themselves, and endeavour to flee from the storm by which they are overtaken. They are driven back by the Indians into the middle of the water; but a small number succeed in eluding the active vigilance of the fishermen. These regain the shore, stumbling at every step, and stretch themselves on the sand, exhausted with fatigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electric shocks of the gymnoti. 'We obtained five large eels, the greater part of which were but slightly wounded. The temperature of the waters in which the gymnoti habitually live, is about 86° of Fahrenheit, and their electric force, it is said, diminishes in colder waters. The gymnotus is the largest of electrical fishes. I measured some that were from five feet to five feet three inches long; and the Indians assert, that they have seen them still longer. We found that a fish of three feet ten inches long weighed 12 lbs. The transverse diameter of the body was three inches five lines. The gymnoti of Cano de Bera are of a fine olive-green color. The under part of the head is yellow, mingled with red. Two rows of small yellow spots are placed symmetrically "When Mr. Bonpland held it by the head, or to us, that these differences could be attributed to the dryness or dampness of our hands, or to their unequal conducting power. The gymnotus seemed to direct its strokes sometimes from the whole surface of its body, sometimes from one point only. 'On cutting a very vigorous fish through the middle of the body, the fore part alone gave me shocks. The shocks are equally strong, in whatever part of the body the fish is touched; it is most disposed, however, to dart them forth when the pectoral fin, the electrical organ, the lips, the eyes, or the gills are pinched. Sometimes the animal struggles violently with a person holding it by the tail, without communicating the least shock. Nor did I feel any when I made a slight incision near the pectoral fin of the fish, and galvanised the wound by the simple contact of two pieces of zinc and silver. The gymnotus bent itself convulsively, and raised its head out of the water, as if terrified by a sensation altogether new; but I felt no vibration in the hands which held the two metals. The most violent muscular movements are not always accompanied by electric discharges. The action of the fish on the organs of man is transmitted and intercepted by the same bodies that transmit and intercept the electrical current of a conductor charged by a Leyden vial, or Volta's pile. In employing very delicate electrometers in a thousand ways, insulating them on a plate of glass, and receiving very strong shocks, which passed through the electrometer, I could never discover any phenomenon of attraction or repulsion The same observation was made ly Mr. Fahlberg at Stockholm. This philosopher, however, has seen an electric spark, as Watsh and Ingenhousz had done before him at London, by placing the gymnotus in the air, and interrupting, the conducting chair by two gold leaves pasted upon glass, and a line distant from each other. No person, on the contrary, has ever perceived a spark issue from the body of the fish itself. We have irritated it for a long time during the night, at Calabozo, in perfect darkness, without (bserving any luminous appearance.' GYNÆCEUM, in antiquity, the apartment of women, a separate room in the inner part of the house, where they employed themselves in spinning, weaving, and needle-work. GY'NECOCRACY, n. s. Gr. yvvaikoкρaría; Fr. gynecocratie. Petticoat government; female power. GYNÆCOCRATUMENI, from vvn, woman, and paтeμεvoç, vanquished, an ancient people of Sarmatia Europæa, inhabiting the east banks of the Tanais, near its influx into the Palus Mæotis; thus called because they were under the dominion of women. F. Hardouin, in his notes on Pliny, says, they were thus called, because, after a battle which they lost against the Amazons on the banks of the Thermodoon, they were obliged to become the husbands of the Amazons. See AMAZONS. GYNANDRIA, from yuvn, a woman, avno, a man. The twentieth class in the sexual system, consisting of plants with hermaphrodite flowers, in which the stamina are placed upon the style, or a pillar-shaped receptacle, resembling a style, which rises in the middle of the flower, and bears both the stamina and pointal. See BOTANY. GYONGYOS, a large well-built town of Hungary, situated on the side of a mountain. The inhabitants, about 8000, manufacture woollen and leather, and trade in wine and cheese, also to a great amount in alum brought from the works of Parad, a small town at seven miles distance. Twenty-one miles W.S.W. of Erlau. GYPSIES, or Egyptians, an outlandish tribe of vagabonds, called Bohemians in France, and Gittanos in Spain; who, disguising themselves in uncouth habits, smearing their faces and bodies, and speaking a canting language, wander up and down, under pretence of telling fortunes, curing diseases, &c., abuse the people, trick them out of their money, and steal all they can come at. They are a strange kind of commonwealth of wandering impostors and jugglers, who made their first appearance in Germany about the beginning of the sixteenth century. Munster, who is followed and relied upon by Spelman, fixes the time of their appearance to 1417; but, as he owns that the first whom he ever saw were in 1529, it is probably an error of the press for 1517; especially as, when sultan Selim conquered Egypt in 1517, several of the natives refused to submit to the Turkish yoke, and revolted under one Zinganeus; whence the Turks called them Zinganees; but, being at length surrounded and banished, they agreed to disperse in small parties all over the world, where their supposed skill in the black art gave them a universal reception in that age of superstition and credulity. In a very few years they gained such a number of idle proselytes (who imitated their language and complexion), that they became troublesome, and even formidable, to most of the states of Europe. Hence they were expelled from France in 1560, and from Spain in 1591. And the government of England took the alarm much earlier; for in 1530 they are described by stat. 22 Hen. VIII. c. 10, as an outlandish people calling themselves Egyptians, using no craft nor feat of merchandise, who have come into this realm, and gone from shire to shire and place to place, in great companies, and used great, subtle, and crafty means to deceive the people; bearing them in hand that they by palmistry could tell men's and women's fortunes; and so many times by craft and subtlety have deceived the people of their money, and also have committed many heinous felonies and robberies.' Wherefore they are directed to avoid the realm and not to return under pain of imprisonment and forfeiture of their goods and chattels; and, upon their trials for any felony which they may have committed, they shall not be entitled to a jury de medietate linguæ. And afterwards it is enacted, by stat. 1 & 2 Ph. & Mary c. 4, and 5 Eliz. c. 20, that, if any such persons shall be imported into the kingdom, the importer shall forfeit £40. And if the Egyptians themselves remain one month in the kingdom, or if any person being fourteen years old, whether natural born subject or stranger, who has been seen or found in the fellowship of such Egyptians, or who has disguised him or herself like them, shall remain in the same one month at one or several times, it is felony without benefit of clergy. Sir M. Hale says, that, at one Suffolk assizes, no fewer than thirteen persons were executed upon these statutes a few years before the Restoration. But, to the honor of humanity, there are no instances more modern than this of carrying these laws into practice; and the last sanguinary act is itself now repealed by 23 Geo. III., c. 54. In Scotland they seem to have enjoyed some share of indulgence; for a writ of privy seal, dated 1594, supports 'John Faw, lord and earl of Little Egypt, in the execution of justice on his company and folk, conformably to the laws of Egypt, and in punishing certain persons there named, who rebelled against him, left him, robbed him, and refused to return home with him. James's subjects are commanded to assist in apprehending them, and in assisting Faw and his adherents to return home. There is a like writ in his favor from Mary queen of Scots, in 1553; and in 1554 he obtained a pardon for the murder of Ninian Small. So that it appears he had staid long in Scotland, and from him this strolling people received the name of Faw's gang, which they still retain. It is incredible how this banditti have spread over the earth. They wander about in Asia and Africa and most of the European nations. Spain is supposed by Mr. Twiss to contain 40,000, by others 60,000, and by some 120,000. But in September and October, 1800, they were almost totally extirpated by the plague. They abound in Italy, and are scattered through France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Russia. For nearly four centuries they have wandered through the world; and in every region, and among every people, whether barbarous or civilised, they have continued unchanged. Their origin has been generally believed to be from Egypt. Thomasius, Salmon, and Sig. Griselini, have endeavoured to prove it. M. Grellman, however, traces it from Hindostan, and the cause of their emigration from the bloody wars of Timur Beg in India, in 1408-9. varies between white and yellow, and likewise in its transparency. It is used as alabaster in several works. England abounds with gypseous substances. There are plenty in Derby, Nottingham, and Somerset shires, so fine as to take a polish like alabaster. A very fine semipellucid alabaster is found in Derbyshire. Fine fibrous tales are also found in many other places. Very fine gypseous drusen is found in Sheppey Isle, and some exceedingly beautiful, large, and clear as crystal, in the salt-works at Nantwich in Cheshire. The selenites rhomboidalis abounds in England, particularly in Shotoverhill, in Oxford, though rare in other counties. Sheppey affords spar-like gypsa, of a fibrous nature, and accreting like the radiations of a star on The the septaria, and thence called stella septarii. GYRATION, n. s. GYRE, N. s. GYRED, adj. GYRE FUL, adj. by any thing moving changeable. GYPSUM, selenite, or plaster-stone. properties of gypsum, according to Cronstedt, are, 1. It is looser and more friable than calcareous earth. 2. It does not effervesce with acids, or at most in a very slight degree. 3. It falls into powder in the fire very readily. 4. When burnt, without being made red-hot, its powder readily concretes with water into a mass which soon hardens; but without any sensible heat being excited in the operation. 5. It is nearly as difficult of fusion as limestone; and shows almost the same effects upon other bodies with limestone, though sulphuric acid seems to promote the vitrification. Magellan, however, says that most of the gypsa, particularly the fibrous, melt in the fire pretty easily by themselves. 6. When melted with borax it puffs and bubbles very much, and for a long time during the fusion. Magellan says, when a small quantity of gypsum is melted with borax the glass becomes colorless and transparent; but some sorts of sparry gypsa, melted with borax, yield a fine yellow transparent glass, resembling the topaz; but, if too inuch of the gypsum is used in proportion to the borax, the glass becomes opaque. 7. When burnt with any inflammable matter, it emits a sulphureous smell, and may thus be decompounded, as well as by either of the fixed alkaline salts in this last method there ought to be five or six times as much salt as gypsum. 8. The residuum shows some signs of iron. The species are, 1. Friable gypseous earth, white, found in Saxony. 2. Indurated gypsum, of a solid texture, or alabaster, the particles of which are not visible. This is sometimes found unsaturated with vitriolic acid. It is easily cut, and takes a dull polish. It is of several kinds. Fabroni tells us, that various fine alabasters are met with in Italy twenty-four quarries of them, each of a different color, being worked out at Volterra. 3. Gypsum of a scaly texture, or common plaster of Paris. See PLASTER. 4. Fibrous gypsum, or plaster-stone, has two varieties, viz. with coarse or with fine fibres. It is white. 5. Selenites, or spar-like gypsum, by some also called glacies manæ, and confounded with the clear and transparent mica. It is of two kinds : clear and transparent, or yellowish and opaque; and abounds every where. 6. Crystallised gypsum, or gypseous drusen. This is found composed of wedge-shaped, and sometimes of capillary crystals; sometimes white and sometimes yellowish. 7. Stalactitical gypsum is of many different forms and colors. In large pieces it commonly Lat. gyrus, gyro; Fr. girer. The act of turning any thing about: gyre is a circle described in an orbit: gyreful is GYRINUS, in zoology, a genus of insects of the coleoptera order. The antennæ are cylindrical, stiff, and shorter than the head: the eyes are four, two on the upper, and two on the under part of the head. See ENTOMOLOGY. G. natator, the common water flea, is one-third of an inch long; of a bright black color; the feet yellow, flat, and large. It runs with great celerity in circles on the surface of the water, and is very difficult to catch. GYRON, in heraldry, an ordinary of two straight lines, issuing from divers parts of the esutcheon, and meeting in the Fesse point. GYVES, n. s. GYVE, v. a. shackle, or ensnare. Welsh, gevyn. Fetters; chains for the legs: to fetter, The poor prisoners, boldly starting up, break off their chains and Knolles. gyves. With as little a web as this, will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon her, do. I will gyve thee in thine own courtship. Shakspeare. The villains march wide betwixt the legs, as if they had gyves on. And, knowing this, should I yet stay, Id. Ben Jonson H. H is in English, as in other languages, a note of aspiration, sounded only by a strong emission of the breath, without any conformation of the organs of speech, and is therefore by many grammarians accounted nq letter. The h in English is scarcely ever mute at the beginning of a word, or where it immediately precedes a vowel; as house, behaviour; where it is followed by a consonant it has no sound, according to the present pronunciation; but anciently it made the syllable guttural, "The strong emission of the breath, however,' as Mr. Todd observes, is usually withheld from heir, herb, hostler, honest, honor, humor, and by some from humble.' It is pronounced by a strong expiration of the breath between the lips, closing, as it were, by a gentle motion of the lower jaw to the upper, and the tongue nearly approaching the palate. It seems to be agreed, that our H, which is the same with that of the Romans, derived its figure from the Hebrew. The Phoenicians, and most ancient Greeks and Romans, used the same figure with our H, which in the series of all these alphabets keeps its primitive place, being the eighth letter; though the ✪ afterwards occupied its place in the Greek alphabet, and its form was changed to X; while its former figure, H, was used for the seventh letter, Eta, or long e. But in the beginning this H was only used for an aspiration, wherefore they wrote HEPOAO instead of nowdov, HOAOI instead of odw, HEKATON, instead of EKATOV, centum; from whence it comes, that the H formerly denoted 100. H was also joined with weak consonants instead of an aspiration; they 'using to write THEO instead of Otoç, and the like. Anciently the h was put for ch; thus Chlodovaus was formed Hludovicus, as it is read on all the coins of the ninth and tenth centuries; and it was on this account that they wrote Hludovicus with an h. In course of time, the sound of the h being much weakened, or entirely suppressed, the h was dropt, and the word was written Ludovicus. In like manner we read Hlotaire, Hlovis, &c. I subjoined to c sometimes gives it the sound of sh, as in Charlotte; but more frequently that of tsh, as in charity, chitchat, church, &c.; and not seldom that of k, as in character, Achilles, &c.; though the latter and all other Greek proper names ought rather to have the guttural sound, agreeably to their original pronunciation. H subjoined to pand t, also alters the sound of these letters; giving the former the sound of f, as in philosophy, &c. and the latter that of the Greek e, as in theology, truth, &c.; and in some English words, as the, that, these, &c., a still harder sound. As an abbreviation, H was used by the ancients to denote homo, hæres, hora, &c. Thus H. B. stood for hæres honorum, and H. S. corruptly for LLS. sesterce; and HA. for Hadrianus. As a numeral, H denotes 200; and with a dash over it, II, 200,000. HA, interj. Lat. ha. An expression of wonder, surprise, or alarm; a sudden question; an expression of laughter: it is used with reduplication. He saith among the trumpets, ha, ha, and he smell. eth the battle afar off. Job, xxxix. 25. And out at the dores sterten they anon; Chaucer. The Nonnes Preestes Tale. You shall look fairer ere I give or hazard: What says the golden chest? ha! let me see. Shakspeare. Ha, ha, 'tis what so long I wished and vowed; Our plots and delusions Have wrought such confusions, Ha! what art thou! thou horrid headless trunk! It is my Hastings! HAAK, n. s. A fish. HAARLEM. See HARLEM. HABAKKUK, pipan, Heb. i.e. a wrestler, one of the twelve minor prophets, whose prophecies are taken into the canon of the Old Testament. There is no precise time mentioned in Scripture when he lived; but, from his predicting the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, it is evident that he prophesied before Zedekiah, probably about the time of Manasseh. He is reported to have been the author of several prophecies which are not extant: but all that are indisputably his are contained in three chapters. HABEAS CORPUS is the great remedy in English law in cases of false imprisonment. See IMPRISONMENT. HABERDASHER, n. s. According to Minsheu from Germ. habt ihr dass, have you this; the expression of a shopkeeper offering his wares to sale. Mr. Thomson says, from Teut. haabvertauscher, from haab, have. One who sells small wares; a pedlar. Because these cunning, men are like haberdashers of small wares, it is not amiss to set forth their shop. Bacon. A haberdasher, who was the oracle of the coffeehouse, declared his opinion. Addison. HABERE FACIAS POSSESSIONEM. A judicial writ that lies where one hath recovered a term for years in action of ejectione firma, to put him into possession; and one may have a new writ, if a former be not well executed. If the sheriff deliver possession of more than is contained in the writ of habere facias possessionem, an action on the case will lie against him, or an assize for the lands. The sheriff cannot return upon this writ that another is tenant of the land by right, but must execute the writ, for that will not come in issue between the demandant and him. HABERE FACIAS SEISINAM. A writ directed to the sheriff, to give seisin of a freehold estate recovered in the king's courts, by ejectione firmæ, or other action. The sheriff may raise |