unacquainted with the proper age for repro- | be interes ing to find in the following table the duction, the duration of the power of repro- results of observations made on this subject duction, and other conditions even of the do- by the best ancient and modern naturalists mesticated animals. It cannot, therefore, but (Oeconomische neukundige Verhandl.)

fleshy, somewhat jointed, and has an agreeable aromatic taste, intermediate between that of ginger and the Virginia snake root. Hence its popular names. As a warm stimulant and diaphoretic it is much praised, being given in the form of tea or powder; and as a substitute for ginger, in common domestic use, I know of no indigenous article, says Dr. Bigelow, which promises so fairly as this. It does not possess the very active emetic, cathartic, and sternutatory powers of the European asarum. The other American species are the A. Virginicum, and A. arifolium.

The following statement shows the value of the ginseng exported from the United States for seven years ending the 30th September, 1841: viz. 1834, $70,202; 1835, $94,970; 1836, $211,405; 1837, $109,368; 1838, $36,622; 1839 $118, 904, 1840, $22,728; 1841, $437,245.

Medical Properties and Uses.-The extraordinary medical virtues formerly ascribed to ginseng, had no other existence than in the imaginations of the Chinese. It is little more than a demulcent; and in this country is not employed as a medicine. Some persons, however, are in the habit of chewing it, having acquired a relish for its taste; and it is chiefly to supply the wants of these that it is kept in the shops. (U. S. Dispensatory.)

GINSENG (Panax quinquefolium, five-leaved panax). This American plant, which has great commercial importance, has a perennial root, which sends up annually a smooth, round There is another species of ginseng indige stem, about a foot in height, dividing at the nous to the lower part of Pennsylvania and summit into three leafstalks, each of which other sections of the United States, called the supports a compound leaf, consisting of five, dwarf ginseng, or three-leaved panax (P. trifoor more rarely of three or seven petiolate, lium). This has also a perennial root, a glooblong, obovate, acuminate, serrate leaflets. bose tuber about half an inch in diameter, The flowers are small, greenish, and arranged rather deep in the ground. The stem grows 4 in a simple umbel, supported by a peduncle, to 6 inches high, slender, minutely grooved, which rises from the top of the stem in the smooth, mostly of a tawny purple colour, dicentre of the petioles. The fruit consists of vided at the summit into three petioles of half kidney-shaped, scarlet berries, crowned with the an inch to an inch long. Leaflets, generally styles and calyx, and containing two, and some-three, but not unfrequently five, unequal, half an times three seeds. The root is fleshy, somewhat spindle-shaped, from 1 to 3 inches long, about as thick as the little finger, and terminated by several slender fibres. Frequently there are two portions, sometimes three or more, connected at their upper extremity, and bearing a supposed though very remote resemblance to the human figure, from which circumstance it is said that the Chinese name ginseng originated. When dried, the root is yellowish white, and wrinkled externally, and within consists of a hard, hornlike substance, surrounded by a whitish, softer, cortical portion. It has a feeble odour, and a sweet, slightly aromatic taste, somewhat analogous to that of liquorice root. It has not been accurately analyzed, but is said to be rich in gum and starch.

The plant grows in the hilly regions of the Northern, Middle, and Western States, and prefers the shelter of thick, shady woods. It is a native also of Chinese Tartary. The root is the part employed. This is collected in considerable quantities in Ohio and Western Virginia, and brought to Philadelphia and other cities on the sea-board for the purpose of exportation to China, where it is highly valued. While supplied exclusively from their own native sources, which furnished the root only in small quantities, the Chinese entertained the most extravagant notions of its virtues, considering it as a remedy for all diseases, and as possessing almost miraculous powers in preserving health, invigorating the system, and prolonging life. It is said to have been worth its weight in gold at Pekin; and the first shipments made from North America to Canton, after the discovery of the root in this country, were attended with enormous profits. But the subsequent abundance of supply has greatly diminished as value, and though it still Occasionally forms a part of the investments for Canton, it has become an object of less 'mportance than formerly.

The

inch to two inches long, and † to 4 of an inch
wide, lance-oblong shape, rather acute.
flower is white and has five petals. The plant
frequents shaded grounds, along rivulets, where
it blooms in April. (Flora Cestrica.)

Professor Hooker describes a third species of ginseng (P. horridum), which is large, shrubby and prickly. This grows west of the Rocky Mountains.

GIPSEY-WORT, or WATER HOREHOUND (Lycopus Europæus). An herbaceous perennial plant, growing on the banks of clear ditches, pools, and rivers, on a sandy or gravelly soil, flowering in July or August. The root is creeping, stem two feet high, leaves numerous, oblong, acute, deeply serrated, often deeply pinnatifid. Flowers white, with purple dots. See BUGLE WEED.

GLANDERS. A disease in horses, attended with a copious discharge of mucus from the nose. It is needless to endeavour to describe the various attempts which have been made to cure this almost invariably fatal disorder. But the farmer must avoid a common error of confounding ulceration of the membrane of the nose with glanders, for the symptoms are very similar. Blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) in thin gruel (one drachm doses) has been given in recent cases with occasional success. The nostrils may be washed with a solution of chloride of lime. The farmer will do well, as soon as he finds a horse attacked with this disease, to place him by himself, give him green food, and thoroughly whitewash the stable from which he is taken, for it is a most contagious diseasc.

GLASSWORT, JOINTED (Salicornia; from sal, salt, and cornu, a horn). Of this genus of plants there are, in England, four indigenous species, which are found very common in salt marshes and muddy sea-shores that are fre quently overflowed by the tide.

1. The common jointed glasswort, sea-grass,

tion. Gluten was discovered in 1742 by Beccaria, an Italian philosopher, to whom we are indebted for the first analysis of wheat flour. The number of plants containing gluten is very considerable. Proust found it in acorns, chestnuts, rice, barley, rye, peas and beans, and in apples and quinces. He found it also in the leaves of the cabbage, cress, hemlock, borage, saffron, &c., and in the sedums; in the berries of the elder, the grape, &c.; in the petals of the rose, &c. Gluten has been shown to resemble albumen so closely that they can hardly be considered as distinct principles. Gluten contains nitrogen, and has, conse

or marsh samphire (S. herbacea), is an annual | pointed out by Cadet, like wise deserve atten plant, with a small fibrous root, a bushy, green stem a foot high, with opposite branches; woody centre very tough. Flowers on numerous short-jointed spikes. The whole plant has a saline taste, abounding in salt juices, and is therefore devoured with avidity by all kinds of cattle; and it is a very wholesome food, especially for sheep. It is often pickled, as a substitute for the very different strongly aromatic rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum), to which it is for this purpose very little inferior. Several other species of glass-wort are enumerated, three of which Mr. Nuttall gives as American, which, like the European, affords soda when burned, and are preserved in vine-quently, been called the vegeto-animal princigar as a pickle.

Soda is yielded in large quantities by the ashes of the different species of Salicornia; and is in great request for manufacturing soap and glass: the best is imported from Spain, under the name of Barilla (see Son▲). These plants will grow in any common soil, and are readily increased by divisions. Being natives of the sea-shore, the plants will thrive better if a little salt be occasionally sprinkled on the surface of the soil. (Willich's Dom. Ency.)

ple, on this account. It yields ammonia, when subjected to destructive distillation; and the vegetables which contain it give out a peculiarly disagreeable odour during their putrefaction. M. Magendie, after feeding animals upon different kinds of food, states that gelatine, fibrin, albumen, when taken singly, do not possess the power of nourishing animals for any length of time; they always die. The reverse is the case, however, with gluten, upon which animals thrive well and long. GLOW-WORM (Lampyris noctiluca). This GNATS (Culex, Linn.). A genus of insects insect is remarkable for the light it emits dur- comprising several species, which are well ing the night. This luminous appearance de-known by the severe punctures they inflict. pends upon a phosphorescent fluid found at The gnat most common in Europe is the C. the lower extremity of the insect; which, by pipiens, so named from the sound which it unfolding or contracting itself, it can withdraw emits in its flight. The sting consists of 5 at pleasure; a power of consequence to the in- pieces and a sheath; some of the pieces are sect, as it is thus secured from the attacks of simple lancets; others are barbed, and act nocturnal birds. The light arises from a sac, both as piercers and as siphons, to extract the which is diaphanous, and contains a secreted blood from the wounds which they make. fluid consisting of albumen and phosphorus. Gnats deposit their eggs, to the number of 200 Glow-worms are sometimes called St. John's by each female, on stagnant waters, where worms, from appearing first as a common oc- they are hatched into small grubs in the course currence about the Feast of St. John the Bap- of 2 or 3 days. On the sides are 4 small fins, tist. The glow-worm is the perfect female of by the aid of which the insect swims about, a winged beetle; the males fly about chiefly in and swiftly dives to the bottom. The larva reautumn, and frequent the grassy plantations of tains its form a fortnight or 3 weeks, when it juniper trees. is converted into the chrysalis, in which state it continues 3 or 4 days, floating on the surface of theater, till it assumes the form of the gnat. The most efficacious remedies for their sting are olive oil, unsalted butter, or fresh hog's lard, timely rubbed in. Gnats have occasionally appeared in such numbers as to form a cloud, almost darkening the air, as was the case in August, 1766, near Oxford. Spencer describes a similar flight of them in Ireland

GLUE (Lat. gluten). is prepared from the chippings of hides, hoofs, &c. The refuse matter of the glue-makers, according to Mr. Miles, is an excellent manure for turnips.

GLUTEN (Lat.). The viscid elastic substance which remains when wheat flour is wrapt in a coarse cloth, and washed under a stream of water, so as to carry off the starch and soluble matters. Gluten, when pure, is inodorous, insipid, tenacious, adhesive, and elastic. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in "As when a swarme of gnats at eventide, hot alcohol. It is also soluble in a dilute soOut of the fennes of Allan doe arise, .ution of potash. When kept moist and warm, Their murmuring small trumpets sownden wide, Whiles in the air their clustering army flies, it ferments. Gluten exists in grains, and ocThat as a cloud doth seem to dim the skies." casionally in other parts of vegetables; but it Faery Queene. is a characteristic ingredient in wheat, giving The mosquito of tropical climates is a spewheat flour its particular toughness and tena-cies of the same genus as the gnat; and the city, which particularly fits it for the manufac- latter is not less troublesome in some of our ture of bread, and for viscid pastes, such as macaroni and vermicelli. There is generally more gluten in the wheat of warm climates than of cold; hence the excellence of that grown in the south of Europe for the manufactures just mentioned. Gluten seems also to constitute the essential part of yeast. Its ases as a varnish, a ground for paint, &c.,

marshy districts than the mosquito in the West Indies. In the marsh land of Norfolk, the bet ter classes are forced to have gauze curtains to keep them off during the night.

The species of gnat best known in America is a small, black fly, which swarms during the month of June, and is especially annoying to travellers, and the first inhabitants of new set

is hard, and almost indigestible. Even the kid, whose flesh is known to be very delicate and nourishing, is held in no estimation: hence all the other properties of the goat are insufficient to render it an object of profitable production. But the goat, although it never can be so valuable there as in the dry and rocky countries of the south of Europe, does not deserve that entire neglect with which it is treated. It arrives early at maturity, and is very prolific, bearing two and sometimes three kids at a birth. The period of gestation is five months. The female bears for six or seven years; the male should not be kept longer than five. In Portugal and some other countries the goat is used as a beast of draught for light burdens. The hair of the goat may be shorn, as it is of some value, making good linsey; that of the Welch hegoat is in great request for making white wigs. Ropes are sometimes made from goats' hair, and are said to last much longer, when used in the water, than those made of hemp. Candles are manufactured from their fat, which, in whiteness and quality, are stated to be supe

tlements. Every bite made by these fierce little insects draws blood, and is generally followed by considerable irritation, and even inflammation. "These little tormentors," says Dr. Harris, "are of a black colour; their wings are transparent; and their legs are short, with a broad, whitish ring around them. The length of their body rarely exceeds one-tenth of an inch. They begin to appear in May, and continue about 6 weeks, after which they are no more seen. They are followed, however, by swarms of midges, or sand-flies (Simulium nocivum), called no-see-'em, by the Indians of Maine, on account of their minuteness. So small are they, that they would hardly be perceived, were it not for their wings, which are of a whitish colour, mottled with black. Towards evening these winged atoms come forth, and creep under the clothes of the inhabitants, and by their bites produce an intolerable irritation, and a momentary smarting compared to that caused by sparks of fire. They do not draw blood, and no swelling follows their attacks. They are the most troublesome during the months of July and August." (See MosQUITO.)rior to those of wax; their horns afford excelGOATS (Capra). There are three species of this genus enumerated by naturalists. 1. The wild goat (C. agagrus); 2. The ibex (C. ibex); 3. The Caucasian ibex (C. Caucasia): of these, the first is believed to be the original of the many varieties of the domestic goat.

lent handles for knives and forks; and the skin, especially that of the kid, is in demand for gloves and other purposes. Goats' milk is sweet, nutritive, and medicinal, and less apt to curdle on the stomach than that of the cow: it forms an excellent substitute for that of asses. When yielding milk the goat will give, for several months, at the average of two quarts per day. Mr. Pringle of Kent, in his Essay "on Cottage Management" (Gard. Mag. vol. 5), informs us that two milch goats are equivalent to one small Shetland cow. Cheese prepared from goats' milk is much esteemed in mountainous countries after it has been kept a proper age. (Low's Pract. Agr. and Breeds of Dom Animals: Willich's Dom. Encyc.)

The goat appears (says Prof. Low) to form the connecting link between the sheep on the one hand, and the antelope tribes on the other. Being the natural inhabitant of mountainous regions, it is, therefore, in wild, rocky countries that the goat is chiefly reared. Goats are stronger, more nimble, and less timid than sheep, and are more easily supported than any other animals, for there are few herbs which they do not relish they will browse on heaths, shrubs, and plants, which are rejected by other GOAT'S-BEARD (Tragopogon). Of this animals; and it is well known they can eat common pasture-weed there are two species with safety herbs (such as the hemlock, hen-1. The yellow goat's-beard (T. pratensis), a bane, &c.) which would prove destructive to biennial, growing in grassy pastures and mea sheep and other animals. Goats are more dows, on a loamy or clayey damp soil. The hardy, and not liable to so many diseases as root is tapering, flowering in June; the whole sheep. The goat is not well adapted to a herb very smooth, abounding with milky juice, country of enclosures, because it feeds upon rather bitter, but not acrid. Stems several, the twigs of hedges, and escapes over the bar-round, leafy, often purplish, 1 to 2 feet high. riers intended to confine it. But where there Leaves long and taper pointed, often flaccid, are no young trees to be injured, they may or curling at the extremity. Flowers large, 2 browse at large on the mountain brakes with- inches wide, bright yellow, opening very early out expense; and in winter, when housed, they in the morning, and closing before noon, exare easily supported on whins or furze, cab-cept in very cloudy weather. The roots and bage leaves, potato-peelings, and such worth-young shoots have been eaten as pot-herbs. less food.

|

2. The purple goat's-beard (T. porrifolius), Goats emit at all times a strong and disa- also biennial, grows in most meadows, near greeable odour, named hircine, which, however, great rivers; herb smooth, 3 or 4 feet high, is not without its use, for if one of these ani- glaucous. The dull purple flowers, like the mals be kept in a stable, it is affirmed that it preceding species, close at midday; thence it will be an effectual preventative of the staggers, | is called in the country Go-to-bed-at-noon.— a nervous disorder which is often very fatal to (Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 337.) horses. In Great Britain the cultivation of the goat is limited and partial. It is chiefly confined to the mountainous parts of Wales, the Highlands of Scotland, and to the little tarms of the poorer peasants of Ireland, whose scanty possessions will not support a cow. The great objection there to the rearing of the goat, is the want of demand for its flesh, which

GOAT-WEED (Capraria biflora). An unin teresting species of plants, of easy culture. The leaves of this genus are liked by goats; hence the common and generic names.

GOGGLES. See SHEEP, DISEASES OF. GOLD and SILVER FISH. These beauti. ful creatures were first introduced into Eng land from China about the close of the 17th

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GOLDEN CLUB, called also Never-Wet, and Floating Arum (Orontium aquaticum). A plant not unfrequent in pools along the fresh water streams of the United States. It has a perennial root, leaves enlarging, finally to 8, GOLD OF PLEASURE (Camelina sativa, 10, or 12 inches long, and 3 to 5 inches wide, wild flax). This is rather a dwarf plant, growa little succulent, very smooth, of a deep green ing from 1 to 2 feet high, which is found in and velvety appearance on the upper surface, cultivated fields, chiefly among flax, with whose paler and somewhat glaucous beneath. Flow-seeds it is often introduced from abroad; but ers yellow.