GRANT-GRASS. in veins, felspar and dark quartz are arranged so as to produce an imperfect laminar structure, which, when broken at right angles to the lamina, presents numerous broken and angular lines that have a faint resemblance to Hebrew characters, whence it is called Graphic Granite. Granite is largely used as a building material in bridges and engineering-works, and also in public buildings and dwellings. The difficulty of working it makes it expensive, but this is counterbalanced by its great durability. It cannot be cut, like the majority of building-stones, with saws, but is worked first with large hammers, and then with pointed chisels. The success with which the Egyptians operated upon this refractory stone is very extraordinary. They worked and polished it in a way which we cannot excel, if, indeed, we can come up to it, with all the appliances of modern science; and not content with polishing, they covered some of the blocks with the most delicate and sharply cut hieroglyphics! purposes The granites best known for ornamental are the gray Aberdeen granite and the reddish coloured Peterhead granite. Of this last-mentioned variety, handsome polished columns for public halls have been constructed. The soil produced by the weathering of granitic rocks should be fertile, as their chemical composition contains the necessary elements. The great hardness of the rock, and its resistance to atmospheric influences, prevent a soil of any thickness being formed; and even where it exists, at least in our temperate regions, it is generally so high and exposed, that it is unfavourable to vegetation; in warmer climates, such soils are frequently very fertile. GRANT, in English law, the conveyance of real property by deed. Originally, the term grant was confined to the conveyance of incorporeal hereditaments and estates in reversion; according to the maxim that incorporeal property lay in grant, and corporeal property in livery, it being impossible to give actual sasine of that which had no tangible existence, or was not in the possession of the granter. In order to complete the conveyance of a reversion or remainder by grant, it was necessary that the tenant of the particular estate should acknowledge the grantee by attornment. The necessity for attornment was abolished 4 and 5 Anne, c. 16, s. 9. By 8 and 9 Vict. c. 106, it is enacted that estates, corporeal as well as incorporeal, may be conveyed by grant. and uninteresting town; the extensive new pier, built in a sufficiently strong manner to admit of its being mounted with cannon, and the old parish church of gray granite, built in the flamboyant style, being almost the only noteworthy features. Its harbour, though well-sheltered and capable of accommodating 90 ships, is always dry at low water. The principal trade of G. is in the whale, cod, and oyster fisheries. Pop. 9984. GRAPE-SHOT, called also tier-shot, consist of bullets or small iron balls piled round an iron pin, holding together a series of parallel iron plates (each the diameter of the cannon used), between which are the shot, kept in their places by holes in the plates. Small 3-inch or 4-inch shells are also quilted together like grape for firing from mortars at short range, as, for example, in clearing the In either case, the explosion of the charge bursts covert-way of a fortress from the third parallel. asunder the binding, and the shot (or shells) begin to scatter directly on leaving the muzzle of the piece. Grape are very formidable against dense masses of troops; but, of course, only at comparatively short ranges. The shot employed differ in weight from 6 oz. to 4 lbs., according to the calibre of the gun from which they are fired. GRAPE-SUGAR. See SUGAR. GRAPPLING-IRON, or GRAPNEL, a sort of small anchor, having several pointed claws, used generally in making fast boats and other small vessels. A similar instrument of more formidable dimensions is employed during action for grappling the rigging and yards of a hostile ship preparatory to boarding. GRA'PTOLITES, a group of fossil zoophytes, apparently nearly related to the recent Sertularia. They had simple or branched polypidoms, formed of a horny substance. The cells in which the polype lived were arranged in a single series on one side of the rachis, or in a double series on both sides; the rachis was generally prolonged beyond the cells at the growing end of the polypidom. Egg capsules have been observed attached to the polypidom, exhibiting a method of reproduction similar to that in the hydroid zoophytes. The generic division of the graptolites has been based on the arrangement of the cells. described. They are confined to the Silurian strata, GRA'SLITZ, a small town of Bohemia, is situ- GRANTHAM, a municipal and parliamentary borough and market-town of England, in the county of Lincoln, is situated on the left bank of the Witham, 23 miles south-south-west of the city of Lincoln, and about 110 miles north-north-west of London. G. has a free grammar-school, with an income from endowment of £800 a year. The parish church, a beautiful structure of the 13th has a fine spire 273 feet high. Here Newton was instructed in classics before entering Cambridge. A canal 30 miles long connects this town with the river Trent. The trade is chiefly in malt, corn, and coal. G. returns two members to the imperial parliament. Pop. in 1861, of parliamentary borough, 11,116. GRA'SMERE, the name of a village and lake in Westmoreland, about three miles north-west of Ambleside. The village, which is beautifully situated at the head of the lake, has an ancient church, containing Wordsworth's grave, which is marked by a plain and modestly-fashioned slab. The lake is upwards of a mile long, and about half a GRANULA'TIONS, the materials of new mile broad, is oval in form, and encloses a small texture as first formed in a wound or on an island. It is girdled about by high mountains, ulcerated surface. See INFLAMMATION, CICATRISA- and forms one of the most beautiful scenes in TION, WOUND, ULCER. England. GRANVILLE, a fortified town and seaport of France, in the department of La Manche, is situated on a promontory surmounted by a fort, 23 miles north-east of St Malo. It is a badly built, dirty, GRASS (in Law). The grass growing on land belongs to the person entitled to the soil, and at his death goes to the heir, and not to the executor. The period of entry as to grass-farms in Scotland is GRASS CLOTH-GRASSES. Whitsunday. Where the cattle of strangers are put into the fields of a tenant in Scotland to graze, the landlord cannot sequestrate the cattle for his rent; whereas, in England, he may distrain the cattle, and pay himself the rent. GRASS CLOTH, a name often, although erroneously, given to certain beautiful fabrics manufactured in the East from different kinds of fibres, none of which are produced by grasses. One of these fabrics is made from the fibre of Bohmeria nivea, popularly called China-grass; another, also known as Pina Muslin, from the fibre of Bromelia Pigna. See BEHMERIA and BROMELIACEAE.-The kinds of cloth really made from the fibre of grasses are extremely coarse. GRASS OF PARNA'SSUS (Parnassia), a genus of plants, generally regarded as belonging to the natural order Droseracea, but referred by Lindley to Hypericacea. The calyx is deeply 5-cleft, there are 5 petals, 5 stamens, and 5 scales fringed with globular-headed threads alternate with the stamens, which are regarded by Lindley as bundles of altered stamens; there are four stigmas, and the fruit is a 1-celled, 4-valved capsule with many seeds. The genus consists of a few small herbaceous plants, with flowers of considerable beauty, growing in wet situations in the colder northern parts of the world. Some of them are found within the arctic circle, and to the snow-line of the Alps, Himalaya, and other mountains. The common Grass of Parnassus (P. palustris) is an ornament of bogs and wet places in Britain and other parts of Europe, with heartshaped leaves, mostly radical and on long footstalks, and one sessile leaf on the stem, which is about eight or ten inches high, and bears a solitary yellowish-white flower. It flowers in autumn. It is called Agrostis en to Parnasso by Dioscorides, whence its modern name. GRASS OIL, a fragrant volatile oil obtained from the leaves and stems of certain grasses of the genus Andropogon (see LEMON GRASS), natives of India. The kind known as Grass-oil of Nemaur is produced at the foot of the Vindhya Hills, and is exported from Bombay. It has been ascribed to the grass called Vittievayr or Cuscus (A. muricatus); to another species, which Dr Royle supposes to be the Calamus Aromaticus of the ancients; and to a third, also like these, a very fragrant grass (4. Iwarancusa). It is not improbable that it may be obtained from more than one species. It is obtained by distillation; the grass, being cut when it begins to flower, is bound in small bundles, which are thrown into a boiler with water, and the oil, as it distils over, is received in cold water, from which it is afterwards skimmed. It is of a light straw colour, has a peculiar rich agreeable odour, and is very pungent and stimulating. It is employed in medicine, as a stimulant and diaphoretic, but more frequently as a liniment in chronic rheumatism. Its chief use, however, is in perfumery. It is sometimes called Ginger-grass Oil, but is commonly called Oil of Geranium by perfumers, and by druggists Oil of Spikenard. Similar to this, but different, and obtained from other species of the same genus, is the oil known as Oil of Lemon Grass (q. v.). GRASS TREE (Xanthorrhea), a genus of plants of the natural order Liliaceae, natives of Australia, and constituting a very peculiar feature in the vegetation of that part of the world. They have shrubby stems, with tufts of long wiry foliage at the summit, somewhat resembling small palms; a long cylindrical spike of densely aggregated flowers shooting up from the centre of the tuft of leaves. The base of the inner leaves of some species is eatable, and forms, particularly when roasted, an agreeable article of Grass Tree (Xanthorrhea hastilis). and useful as a tonic in dysentery, diarrhoea, and other intestinal maladies; used also by the natives of Australia for uniting the edges of wounds, and with an aluminous earth for caulking their canoes, and as a cement for various purposes. The common grass tree (X. hastilis) has a stem about four feet high, but sometimes a foot in diameter. It is of very slow growth, and is supposed to be many centuries old when it has reached such dimensions.Several species are found in Eastern Australia, where their leaves are used as fodder for all kinds of cattle. GRASSE, a manufacturing town of France, in the department of Var, is pleasantly situated in the midst of flower-gardens, on the southern slope of a hill, 23 miles east-north-east of Draguignan. The streets are steep, narrow, and crooked, but the houses are well built. The principal buildings are the college, hospital, and ecclesiastical school. G. is second only to Paris in its manufactures of essences and perfumes, made from the roses, orangeflowers, heliotropes, mint, &c., which, from the mildness of the climate, are most successfully grown in the vicinity. It has also manufactures of woollen goods, soap, leather, and olive oil; several silkspinning factories and tanneries; and a considerable trade in oranges, citrons, wax, and honey. Pop. 7292. order of endogenous plants, containing almost 4000 GRASSES (Gramineae or Graminacea), a natural known species, about one-twentieth of all known Phanerogamous plants; whilst the social habit of many of them, and the vast number of individual plants within even a limited tract, give them a still greater proportion to the whole phanerogamous vegetation of the earth. They are distributed over all parts of the world; some are characteristic of the warmest tropical regions, and some of the vicinity of perpetual snow; but they abound most of all, and particularly in their social character, clothing the ground with verdure, and forming the chief vegetation of meadows and pastures, in the northern temperate zone. There is no kind of soil which is not suitable to some or other of the grasses; and whilst some are peculiar to dry and sterile soils, others are only found on rich soils with GRASSES. abundant moisture; some grow in marshes, stagnant to man; the farinaceous seeds of some of the waters, or slow streams, some only on the sea-coast; none are truly marine. Some grasses are annual, and some perennial; they have fibrous roots; the root-stock often throws out runners; the stems (culms) are round, jointed, generally hollow, except at the joints, rarely filled with pith, generally annual, and of humble growth, but sometimes perennial and woody, occasionally-as in bamboos-attaining the height and magnitude of trees. The leaves are long and narrow, alternate, and at the base sheath the culm; the sheath is split on the side opposite to that from which the blade springs; and at the junction of the blade and sheath, there is often a short membranous prolongation of the epidermis of the sheath, called the ligule. The flowers are generally hermaphrodite, but sometimes unisexual, and more frequently so in the grasses of tropical than in those of colder climates; they are disposed in spikelets, and these again generally in spikes, racemes, or panicles; they have no proper calyx nor corolla, but consist of the parts of fructification enclosed in two series of small bracts, some or all of which are sometimes awned. See AwN. The two outer a use. grasses being the corn or grain which forms a chief part of human food. The grasses cultivated on this account are noticed in the article CEREALIA and in separate articles. Starch is the principal substance entering into the composition of these farinaceous seeds, and is often extracted from them, either to be used by itself as an article of food, or for other economical purposes, according to the kind. Besides starch, they contain, in greater or less proportions, gluten and other similar substances, on which not a little of their nutritive value depends. The peculiarities of composition of the most important grains are noticed in the article MEAL, or under their separate heads. When, by the process of malting (see MALT), great part of the starch of the grain has been converted into sugar, a fermented liquor is made from it, of which BEER or ALE made from barley is the most familiar example; and from this, again, a spirituous liquor—as whisky-is obtained by distillation. Fermented and spirituous liquors are commonly made from different kinds of grain in different parts of the world, particularly barley, maize, rice, and millet.-SUGAR is another important product of grasses, existing in large quantity in the stems of many species, and particularly abounding in the soft internal part of some, as Sugar-cane, Maize, and Shaloo or Sugar-grass (Sorghum saccharatum, see DURRA), from which it is extracted for The sugar-cane yields far more sugar than all the other plants cultivated on that account in the world. Rum-obtained by fermentation and distillation from sugar-is another well-known product of the sugar-cane, and similar liquors may be obtained from the other sugar-producing grasses.-Besides these uses, grasses are also of great importance as affording pasture and fodder (hay and straw) for cattle. See FODDER.-The woody stems of the larger grasses are applied to a great variety of economical purposes. See BAMBOO. Those of some of the smaller grasses are much used for thatch, and are also made by plaiting into straw-hats, ladies' bonnets, &c. See STRAW-PLAITING.-The underground runners of some species, as the Marrum Grass and Sea Lyme-grass, make them particularly useful for binding and fixing loose sands.-The bracts of each spikelet are called glumes. In some stems and leaves of many grasses have fibres of grasses, only one glume is properly developed for such length and strength that they are twisted into each spikelet. Within the glumes are the florets coarse ropes for many purposes in which no great forming the spikelet, sometimes only one, but often durability is required. Thus, hay and straw ropes a larger number, each floret having generally two are commonly used on every farm in Britain, and small bracts called paleæ or glumella, the immediate different grasses are used in the same way in many covering of the parts of fructification. The glumes parts of the world. Some grasses, as the Moonja were called the calyx by the older botanists, and (Saccharum Munja) of India, are not simply twisted the palea the corolla, but inaccurately. The stamens into ropes, but their fibres are first separated by are hypogynous, sometimes only one, sometimes six moistening and beating; and the fibres of some, as or more, but very gener- the Esparto (q. v.) of Spain, are made not only into ally three, the anthers ropes, but into mats, sacks, and other very coarse attached to the filaments fabrics.-The Chinese make paper from the young by the middle of their shoots of bamboo; paper is also made from the back, and easily moved straw of rye, wheat, barley, and oats, and might by the slightest breeze. be made from that of many grasses. See PAPER. The ovary is simple, one--The perennial roots and runners of some grasses celled; the styles two or contain peculiar substances, on account of which three, sometimes united; they are used medicinally, as those of couch-grass. the stigmas feathery or The stems and leaves of some contain Coumarin hairy. The fruit is a (q. v.), and have a very agreeable fragrance when caryopsis, the pericarp dried, as in the case of the Sweet-scented Vernal being incorporated with Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum) of Britain. A few, the seed; the seed con- chiefly East Indian species, contain other aromatic Fig. 2.-Spikelet with One sists of a small embryo, and fragrant substances in the stem and root, parFloret; Three Anthers: lying at the base and on ticularly Lemon Grass, Vittievayr, and other species a, the floret; 6, stigmas; the outside of a large of Andropogon, which yield Grass-oil (q. v.).—It c, ovule; d, filaments; e, farinaceous albumen, from has been alleged that the seeds of a few grasses anthers; f, glumes. which arises in great part are poisonous, but this in every case requires conthe extreme importance of this order of plants firmation, although Darnel (q. v.) in particular has Fig. 1. spikelet with one floret; two anthers: b, spikelet with two florets, shewn detached from the glumes; three anthers: e, spikelet with many florets; three anthers. 55 GRASSHOPPER-GRATE. a bad reputation. The stems, leaves, and glumes of grasses contain a large proportion of silica, particularly the epidermis, so that when large quantities of them are burned, a sort of glass is formed; a fact which requires attention in questions relative to the manures proper for particular crops, and the most profitable alternation of crops in husbandry. The following are the tribes into which botanists have divided the natural order of Grasses, with the names of some of the most important, as examples: Rice. and the elytræ or wing-covers of small size. Most of them, however, have well-developed wings; and the wing-covers of the males, as in crickets, have a spot at the base of a talc-like appearance, by the rubbing together of which that chirping sound is produced which is probably connected with the sexual instincts of the insects, but which we have learned to associate with the brightest of green pastures and of sunshiny days. Grasshoppers are herbivorous. They are numerous in most parts of the world. The largest British species is the GREAT GREEN G. (Gryllus viridissimus, also known as Locusta viridissima and Acrida viridissima), about two inches in length, and of a fine green colour; a somewhat rare insect in Britain, although not uncommon in some parts of Europe. A green colour prevails among the grasshoppers of Britain, and generally of temperate climates, enabling them more readily to elude observation among the herbage in midst of which they live; but some of the tropical species are richly coloured, and some have very large wings, almost like those of lepidopterous insects. The greater number of grasshoppers feed on grass and the leaves Fescue; Meadow Grass; Manna Grass; of herbaceous plants, but some prefer the leaves of Teff; Cock's-foot Grass ; Tussac Grass; Dog's-tail Grass. Sub-tribe Bambusida-Bamboos. Wheat; Barley; Rye; Spelt; Ryegrass; Lyme Grass. Gama Grass. Maize; Job's Tears (Coix); Canary Reeds; Marrum Grass; Pampas Grass. Cord Grass (Spartina); Cynodon; Eleusine. Oats; Vernal Grass; Aira. Andropogonea. Sugar-cane; Shaloo or Sugar Grass; The word Grass is probably from the same root as Lat. cresco, Eng. grow. Among farmers, the term grasses is extended to include, along with the true grasses, other plants cultivated for fodder and forage, such as clover, &c., and these are distinguished by the term Artificial Grasses, whilst the true grasses are called Natural Grasses. GRA'SSHOPPER, the English name of many species of insects, forming a family of the order Orthoptera, section Saltatoria, called Gryllida by some (chiefly English) entomologists, and Locustida by others those who adopt the former name designating the Crickets (q. v.) Achetida. Locusts (q. v.), however, do not belong to this family, although very closely allied, but are distinguished from it by greater robustness of frame, shorter legs, and shorter antennæ. The antennæ of the grasshoppers are long and threadlike, as in the crickets. The wings of grasshoppers, as of locusts, fold together like the sides of a roof, whilst those of crickets are horizontal when at rest. Grasshoppers, like crickets and locusts, Grasshopper, Female (Gryllus viridissimus). have the thighs of the hinder legs very large and adapted for leaping. But grasshoppers do not leap with so great energy as locusts, nor are they capable of so sustained a flight. There are, indeed, some of the family in which the wings are merely rudimental, trees. GRA'SSUM, in the Law of Scotland, is a lump sum paid by persons who take a lease of landed property. In the case of entailed estates, the heir in possession is generally prohibited from taking large sums in the form of a grassum, and letting the property at a lower rent, because it tends to prejudice those who succeed him in the property. In England, the word is not used, but the word premium in some cases, and fine in others, means the same thing. Where a person is entire owner or freeholder, he is entitled to let his land at any rent he pleases, and to stipulate for a grassum as large as he can get. GRASSWRACK (Zostéra), a genus of plants of the natural order Naiades, one of the few genera of phanerogamous plants which grow amongst seaweeds at the bottom of the sea. The leaves are narrow and grass-like; and the flowers consist merely of stamens and pistils, without any perianth, inserted on the central nerve of one side of a flat thin linear spadix, with a leafy spathe. The pollen is confervoid.-The Common Grass wrack (Z. marina) is a perennial plant, which forms green meadows on the sandy bottom of shallow parts of almost all the European seas, and abounds in creeks and salt-water ditches. It is found in great plenty on the British shores. It becomes white by exposure to the air. The rush-like coverings of Italian liquor-flasks are made of it, and it is much used for packing glass bottles and other brittle ware. It has been long used in Holland, Gothland, and Iceland for stuffing pillows and mattresses, and this use has of late years very much extended, so that the plant has become an article of commerce, under the name of Alga marina, or more commonly, but incorrectly, Alva marina (Ger. See-gras). GRATE, the iron cage which supports the coal for a common fire. Considerable improvements have been made of late years in the construction of common domestic grates. Our forefathers simply added an iron cage to the old form of fireplace built originally for burning a pile of wood. This was a large square-sided recess, with a very wide opening for the chimney. Count Rumford pointed out the disadvantages of this, and the principles upon which they should be remedied. See CHIMNEY. In the modern grate, the filling up of the square cavity recommended by Count Rumford, and also his plan of lowering and narrowing the throat of the chimney, are usually effected by iron plates forming part of GRATIAN-GRATIOLA. the grate. These plates are readily heated, and with equal readiness radiate and reflect the heat into the room, and thereby effect a considerable saving of coal, besides which the grate itself is brought forward level with, or even projecting beyond, the walls of the room, whereby the radiation from the heated coal is utilised to the utmost. One of the most effective as well as elegant forms of grate is that which consists simply of a large square iron plate set nearly flush with the wall, in the middle of which is a hemispherical cavity with bowed bars in front, and a trapped opening into the chimney in the upper part of this cavity. When there is a fair draught, this form of grate gives a good fire, and effects the maximum economy of fuel for an open fireplace (which of course is always somewhat wasteful compared with a stove). The curved surface behind and above the fire radiates and reflects into the room from every part of its surface, and the plate flush with the wall, which is heated by conduction, may be regarded as a part of the room, and thus the main condition of economy is effected, viz., throwing as much as possible of the heat into the room, and allowing as little as possible to go up the chimney. A lining of firebrick or of fireclay, moulded to the form of the back of the grate, is useful in retaining the heat which is necessary for complete combustion of coal; the firebrick, being a bad conductor and an excellent radiator, becomes red-hot on its surface next to the coal, and this heat is not carried away, but is radiated into the fire, and assists in burning the carbon of the smoke. The conditions for securing an effective draught are treated under CHIMNEY. GRA'TIAN, the collector of the well-known body of canon law which is commonly cited under the title of Decretum Gratiani. It is singular, however, that although few authorities have been so frequently cited, or have obtained so wide and permanent acceptance as this celebrated collection, hardly anything is known of the collector's own personal history. The sum of our knowledge regarding him is, that he was a native of Chiusa in Tuscany, and that he became, in later life, a Benedictine monk of the monastery of St Felix in Bologna. The date commonly assigned to G.'s collection is 1141 or 1151; its title, however, Decretum, or Concordia Discordantium Canon, is believed to be of later origin. How far the collection is the work of G. himself, or how far he was indebted for his materials, and even for their arrangement, to the labours of earlier collectors, it is difficult to determine. The work consists not only of the decrees of councils and popes down to Innocent II. (including the spurious ISIDORIAN DECRETALS, q. v.), but also of passages from the Scripture, from the Fathers, and even from the Roman law. It is divided into three parts. The first regards the hierarchical constitution of the church, and chiefly relates to doctrinal and moral subjects. It is divided into distinctions.' The second treats of external jurisdiction, under the head of 'causes' and 'questions.' The third regards the inner life of the church-the liturgy and the sacraments. From what has been already said regarding his adoption of the Isidorian decretals, it will be inferred that in point of criticism G.'s authority is of little value, and, in general, it may be added that no authority is given to any document beyond what it intrinsically possesses, from the fact of its being placed in G.'s collection. For the other collectors of the canon law, see CANON LAW. The date of G.'s death is unknown. GRATIANUS, AUGUSTUS, eldest son of Valentinian I., by his first wife Severa, was born at Sirmium in Pannonia, on the 19th of April 359 A. D. While he was still nobilissimus puer (or heir. apparent), he was created consul, and in 367, was elevated by his father to the rank of Augustus at Ambiani, or Amiens, in Gaul. In the following year, he accompanied his father in his expedition against the Alemanni, in order that he might be accustomed to warfare. On the death of Valentinian, the troops elevated G. to the throne, giving him at the same time as a colleague his half-brother Valentinian II. Gaul, Spain, and Britain fell to G.'s share; and as his brother was only four years old, G. is supposed by many authorities to have been the monarch de facto of the rest of the Western Empire, fixing his residence at Treviri (now Treves). During the first part of his reign, a fierce warfare was carried on against the tribes who possessed the Danubian provinces and Illyricum; and he was on the point of marching into Thrace, to assist his uncle Valens against the Goths, when he was suddenly called upon to defend his dominions against the Lentienses, a tribe of the Alemanni. After the invaders had been defeated, G. advanced towards the Eastern Empire, but while on the way, he learned that his uncle Valens had been defeated and killed by the Goths near Adrianople (August 378). The sovereignty of the Eastern Empire then devolved upon G., but feeling his inadequacy to the task of ruling the whole empire, he recalled Theodosius (q. v.) from Spain, and appointed him his colleague on the 19th January 379. G. possessed some admirable virtues: he was pious, chaste, and temperate; his understanding was well cultivated, although not character was too yielding and pliant, and he was strong, and his eloquence attractive. consequently often led to the commission of gross acts of cruelty and tyranny, utterly foreign to his nature. His persecution of the pagans, and afterwards of heretic Christians, made him a great favourite with orthodox ecclesiastics, but rather alienated the affections of his subjects generally, while his fondness for frivolous amusements, and unworthy associates, excited the contempt of the army, so that when Maximus was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain, crowds of the disaffected flocked to his standard. G. was defeated by him near Paris, and afterwards fled to Lyon, where he Maximus had sent in pursuit of him, on the 25th was overtaken and killed by Andragathius, whom August 383. But his GRATI'OLA, a genus of plants of the natural order Scrophularinea, having a 5-partite calyx, the upper lip of the corolla bifid, the lower trifid, only G. officinalis, sometimes called HEDGE HYSSOP, is two stamens fertile, and the anthers pendulous. found in meadows and on the margins of ponds and river-banks in most parts of Europe, but not in Britain. It has sessile lanceolate serrulated leaves, and axillary solitary flowers. It is extremely bitter, acts violently as a purgative, diuretic, and emetic; and in overdoses is an acrid poison. It is admin istered in cases of worms, jaundice, dropsy, scrofula, mania, and venereal diseases; but requires to be used with caution. It is said to render some of the Swiss meadows useless as pastures. It was formerly so highly esteemed as a medicine, that the name of Gratia Dei (Grace of God) was given to it, and for the same reason it is known in Herb). France as Herbe au Pauvre Homme (Poor Man's It is said to be the basis of the famous gout medicine called Eau medicinale.-G. Peruviana, a South American species, has somewhat similar properties. These properties are supposed to depend upon a bitter resinous principle called Gratioline. |