of the world. The name of felwort given to 0. Amarellu, but occasionally applied to the whole genus, is stated by Dr Prior to be given in allusion to these properties—171'! meaning gall, and wort a plant. In the same way the Chinese call the (I. asclepiadm, and the Japanese the G. Jiuergcri, “ dragon’s gall plants,” in Common with several other very bitter plants whose roots they use in medicine. G. campestris is sometimes in Sweden and other northern
countries a substitue for hops.By far the most important of the species used in medicine is the G. lutea, a large handsome plant 3 or 4 feet high, growing in open grassy places on the Alps, Apennines, and Pyrenees, as well as on some of the mountainous ranges of France and Germany, extending as far east as Bosnia and the Danubian principalities. It has large oval strongly- ribbed leaves and dense whorls of conSpicuous yellow flowe rs. Its use in medicine is of very ancient date. Pliny and Dioscorides mention that the plant was noticed by Gentius, a. king of the lllyrians, living 180–167 b.c., from whom the name Gentiaua is supposed to be derived. During the Middle Ages it was much employed in the cure of disease, and as an ingredient in counter-poisons. In 1552 Tragus mentions the use of the root as a means of dilating wounds.
The root, which is the part used in medicine, is tough and flexible, scarcely branched, and of a brownish colour and spongy texture. It has a pure bitter taste and faint distinctive odour. On account of its porous nature it has been used in modern surgery, as in the time of Tragus, as a substitute for sponge tents. The root has been several times analysed with varying results, but Kromayer in 1862 first obtained the bitter principle in a state of purity. This substance, to which the bitterness of the root is due, he called gentiopicrin (C20H300m). It is a neutral glucoside, crystallizing in colourless needles, and is contained in the fresh root in the proportion of about T‘Uth per cent., but has not been obtained in a crystalline state from the dried root. It is soluble in water and spirit of wine, but it does not dissolve in ether. It is easily decomposed, dilute mineral acids splitting it up into glucose and gentiogenin, the latter being an amorphous yellowish-brown neutral substance. It is not precipitated by tannin or subacetate of lead. A solution of caustic potash or soda forms with gentiopierin a yellow solution, and the tincture of the root to which either of these alkalies has been added loses its bitterness in a few days. Gentian root also contains gentiam'c aci(l(CHH1005), which is inert and tasteless It forms pale yellow silky crystals, very slightly soluble in water or ether, but soluble in hot strong alcohol and in aqueous alkaline solutions. This substance, which is also called gentianiu, gentisin, and gentlsic acid, has been shown by Ville to partake of the nature of tannin, giving the reactions of that substance with ferric chloride, gelatin, and albumen. On this account he proposes to change the name to gentiano—lannic acid.
The root also contains 12 to 15 per cent. of an uncrystal- lizable sugar, of which fact advantage has long been taken in Switzerland and Bavaria, for the production of a bitter cordial spirit called Enzianbramztwein. The use of this spirit, especially in Switzerland, has sometimes been followed by poisonous symptoms, which have been doubtfully attri- buted to inherent narcotic properties possessed by some species of gentian, the roots of which may have been indis- criminately collected with it; but it is quite possible that it may be due to the contamination of the root with that of Veratrum album, a poisonous plant growing at the same altitude, and having leaves extremely similar in appearance and size to those of G. lulm. (lentian is considered by therapeutists to be one of the most efficient of the simple bitter tonics, that is, of that class of substances which act upon the stomach so as to invigorate digestion and thereby increase the general nutrition, without exerting any direct influence upon any other portion of the body than the alimentary canal. It is used in dyspepsia, chlorosis, anaemia, and various other diseases, in which the tone of the stomach and alimentary canal is deficient, and is sometimes added to purgative medicines to increase and improve their action. In veterinary medicine it is also used as a tonic, and enters into a well-known compound called dinpenle as a chief ingredient.
See Sowcrby, English Botany, 3d edit., vol. vi. p. 74—81; llems- ley. Handbook of Hardy Trees, Shrubs, and Herbaceous Plants, p. 303; Journal ofb’oluny, 1864, p. 65; 1872, p. 166; 1878, p. 265; Pharmacographia, p. 389; Pharmaceutical Journal (1), vol. xii. p. 371; (3) vol. iii. p. 42; (3) vol. vi. p. 90; (3) vol. viii. p. 182; “'00d and Bachc, United States Dispcnsutory, 14th edit., p. 438; Porter Smith, Chiiwse Malaria Jflcdica, p. 102.
GENTILESCHI, Artemisia and Orazio de’, painters. Orazio (1565–1646) is generally named Orazio Lomi de’ Gentileschi ; it appears that De’ Gentileschi was his correct surname, Lomi being the surname which his mother had borne during her first marriage. He was born at Pisa, and studied under his half-brother Aurelio Lomi, whom in course of time he surpassed. He afterwards went to llome, and was associated with the landscape—painter Agostino Tasi, executing the figures for the landscape backgrounds of this artist in the Palazzo Itospigliosi, and it is said in the great hall of the Quirinal Palace, although by Some authori- ties the figures in the last-named building are ascribed to Lanfranchi. His best works are Saints Cecilia and Valerian, in the Palazzo Borghese, tome; David after the death of Goliath, in the Palazzo Doria, Genoa; and some works in the royal palace, Turin, noticeable for vivid and uncommon colouring. At an advanced age Gentileschi went to England at the invitation of Charles I., and he was em- ployed in the palace at Greenwich. Vandyck included him in his portraits of a hundred illustrious men. His works generally are strong in shadow and positive in colour. He died in England in 1616. Artemisia (1590–1642), Orazio’s daughter, studied first under Guido. acquired much renown for portrait-painting, and considerably excelled her father’s fame. She was a beautiful and elegant woman 2 her likeness, linlned by her own hand, is to be seen in Hampton Court. Her most celebrated composition is Judith and Holofernes, in the Pitti palace; certainly a work of singular energy, and giving ample proof of executive faculty, but repulsive and unwomanly in its physical horror. She accompanied her father to England, but (lid not remain there long; the best picture which she produced for Charles I. was David with the head of Goliath. Artemisia refused an offer of marriage from Agostino Tasi, and bestowed her hand on I’ier Antonio Schinttesi, continuing however to use her own surname. She settled in Naples, whither she re- turned after her English sojourn; she lived there in no little splendour, and there she died in 1642. She had a daughter and perhaps other children.
the founder of the science of international law. He was the second son of Matt-co Gentili, a physician of noble family and scientific eminence, and was born 14th January 1552 at Sanginesio, a small town of the march of Ancona which looks dowu from the slopes of the Apennines upon the distant Adriatic. After taking the degree of doctor of law at the university of Perugia, and holding a judicial office at Ascoli, he returned to his native city, and was entrusted with the task of recasting its statutes, but, sharing the Protestant opinions of his father, shared also his flight to Carniola, where Matteo was appointed physician to the duchy. The Inquisition condemned the fugitives as con- tumacious, and they soon received orders to quit the dominions of Austria. Albcrico set out for England,
travelling by way of 'l‘iibingen and Heidelberg, and every-