of ice filling a valley between high mountains, and pouring down its masses into valleys yet lower. Some are formed about 8000 or 9000 feet above the level of the sea, and extend from three to twenty miles in length, by one or two in breadth, their surface being in some cases smooth and unbroken, but more generally marked by deep chasms and pinnacles of ice, rising in fantastic forms. As glaciers have their origin in the higher valleys and gorges, they sometimes descend into the midst of warm and pine-clad slopes and greenswards, and bring devastation into the huts of

the peasantry. This movement of the glacier is accounted for by supposing that the ice is assisted onward by some secret spring of water, issuing from beneath its extremity, and which gradually undermines it. This water is derived from natural springs, the melting of the ice, and the waste of the glacier itself by the action of the sun and rain.

* GLASS.-The ingredients used in its manufacture are, principally, a fine white sea sand, purified pearlash, litharge (red lead), and nitre;

the constellations are laid down according to their places in the firmament.

GLOB'ULE, a small particle of matter, of a spherical form, as the red particles of the blood.

GLOSSARY, a definition of obscure or antiquated words.

GLOT'TIS, the opening of the larynx, or windpipe, behind the tongue.

GLUE, a species of cement made from the paring of hides, hoofs, and other offal, by boiling them and straining off their impurities. GLUTEN, an elastic and tenacious substance, resembling gum, found largely in flour and other vegetable bodies. [and adhesive. GLUTINOUS, any thing soft GLYPH`OGRAPHY, is the art of drawing through a thin layer of composition upon a plate; a cast of which, taken by the Electrotype process is printed from, after the manner of a wood engraving.

GNE'ISS, (nise) (Geo.) a species of a slaty texture, containing

metals, and, in many countries, lying immediately over the great mountain masses of granite.

GNO'MON, the index of a dial, always parallel to the axis of the earth.

GNOMON'ICS, a science which teaches the art of finding the just proportions of shadows for the construction of sun-dials.

GNU, a swift footed animalt. GOLD, a metal 19 times heavier than water, and the most malleable and ductile of all metals; a single grain may be so beaten as to cover 50 square inches.

GOLD BEATERS' SKIN, a thin membranous skin prepared from the entrails of an ox, and used by gold beaters for the purpose of laying between them the leaves of metal.

Gos'sAMER, a fine filmy substance like a cobweb.

GOTH'IC, (Ar.) a style distinguished by pointed arches andclustered columns, introduced by the Normans about the 12th century.

the sand forming about two thirds of the mixture. Calcined flint was once extensively used, but a peculiar sea sand, procured from Lynn, in Norfolk, and Alum Bay, in the Isle of Wight, have long formed the silex used in glass houses. New South Wales, also, now supplies us with the sand. When these substances are well blended together, they are put into large pots, or crucibles, and placed in a furnace, where, after a long continuous heat, (about 48 hours,) and the removal of impurities generated by the process, they become a transparent fluid, and form the material from which the glass is either blown, or cast, into any shape that may be required. When glass is cast, moulds are prepared, into which the liquid mass is placed. When articles are made by blowing, the workman dips the end of an iron pipe into the melting-pot, and the fluid which adheres to it, is partly formed by his breath into the shape required, and while it is still red hot and soft, its ultimate shape is given, and additional pieces may be joined to it. When finished, the article is placed in an upper furnace, and kept in a red heat until it is properly annealed. To colour the glass, cobalt is used for blue, oxyde of iron for green; and, according to the tint required, other colouring matter can be introduced.

* GNU. This animal forms a graceful link between the buffalo and the antelope tribe. It is a native of the wild and hilly districts of South Africa, where it roams mostly in large herds, which migrate according to the season. The body is about three feet two inches long, and the

height three feet six inches. The neck is unusually thick, having a mane on the upper part. The orbit of the eyes is round and surrounded by long white hairs, forming a kind of star, and giving the animal an uncommon and fierce appearance. Its general colour is deep brown, verging

upon black. It possesses great strength and swiftness, acute scent, and a quick sight. Its flesh is prized as food, but they are not to be approached without difficulty. When taken young the Gnu will become domesticated, but it is apt upon occasions to become ferocious and unmanageable.

and familiarly called the change from the old to the new style. GUA'NO, the dung and remains of birds*.

GUILD, (gild) a society, or corporation, united and governed by their own laws. Hence Guildhall is a place or hall wherein their affairs are transacted.

GUM, a vegetable juice exuding from the pores of certain plants, and then hardening into a tenacious or sticky mass, which may be dissolved.

GUN'POWDER, a composition of sulphur, nitre, and charcoal. A musket, when charged with gunpowder, will send a ball, on on average, 1600 feet per second, and its range is half a mile.

GUT'TA SERENA, a disease of the optic nerve, causing blindness. GYMNASIUM, the place used by the Greeks for athletic exercises, and named from gymnos (naked), because some of these exercises were performed in that

state.

GYPSUM, a substance composed of sulphate of lime, which when heated and ground, forms plaster of Paris.

H.

HA'BEAS COR'PUS, (L.) a writ to remove a prisoner into a supe

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rior Court, for the due hearing of his cause; when, if found to be unlawfully detained, he is there discharged.

HALL, drops of rain congealed into ice, in consequence of the great coldness of the air through which they pass.

HA'LO, a luminous ring round the heavenly bodies, supposed to be a reflection by vapour.

HALLUCINATION, an error, or a mistake of imagination.

HAR'PY, a poetical creation, with the face of a woman, and the claws and wings of a bird, remarkable for rapaciousness; it signifies a ravenous or exceedingly covetous person.

HATCH'MENT, an armorial bearing, placed, with an angle downwards, over the door of a deceased person, or against the wall of a church.

HEAT, the cause of the sensation we feel when near the firet. HEBDOMADAL, recurring every seven days.

HEC'TIC, (Med.) troubled with a morbid heat, or fever, and a frequent flush on the cheeks.

HEGIRA, the epoch of Mahomet's flight, on the 10th of July, 622, from Mecca. From this term is dated the series of eastern or lunar years, of 354 days.

*GUANO has long been known as a powerful manure. Among the limestone cliffs of Yorkshire many tons have been collected annually by men engaged in taking the eggs of the wild pigeons, and who, for that purpose, let each other down the face of the cliffs by means of a "gin" or windlass. This manure is sold to the neighbouring farmers, and is found highly beneficial for their grain crops, though not equal in efficacy to the Peruvian and African guano. It is, however, a pleasing circumstance in the economy of nature, that the sheltering shrub and the sheltered bird, mutually benefit each other, so that the offensive excrements of the bird contribute to the growth and beauty of the plant. In harmony with this is another fact, that where there is no rain, and consequently no vegetation, the great proportion of the dung of birds is converted by the action of the sun's rays into a non volatile, but soluble salt, one of the principal ingredients in the great depots of tropical guano.

+ HEAT-is better understood from its effects, than from a knowledge of

HEIR LOOMS, (L.) are articles which descend to the heir along with the inheritance, and cannot be devised away by will.

HE'LOTS, the name of a class of slaves in Sparta, who did not belong to separate masters, but to the state.

HELLENISM, an idiom, or manner of expression, peculiar to the Greek language.

HEM'ISTICH, in poetry, a line left half completed.

HEM'LOCK, a poisonous plant. HEMP, a fibrous material obtained from a plant called cannabis; it is a species of the nettle.

HEN BANE, a plant common in hedges, and bearing yellow and purple flowers, with a dark grey seed; it is poisonous.

HEPATIC, (Ph.) pertaining to the liver. (Ch.) Hepatic air is inflammable.

HEP'TARCHY, the name given to the seven Saxon kingdoms, into which England was divided for about 300 years.

HER'ALD, an officer who makes proclamations, designs coats of arms, registers genealogies, and directs regal processions.

HERBAL, a work giving a summary view of plants. HERBA CEOUS, feeding on vegetables. HERCU'LEAN, expressive of great strength and perseverance necessary to execute any undertaking.

HERIOT, a fine paid under the feudal system to the lord, at the death of a tenant; generally the best beast in the tenant's stock.

HERED'ITARY, inheriting by family heirship in a lineal descent.

HERMETICAL, a mode of sealing which effectually excludes all foreign bodies.

HER'NIA, (An.) an intestinal rupture.

in

classical

HEXAMETER, poetry a line of six feet. HIERARCHY, a sacred or ecclesiastical government.

its composition. Its presence converts a hard solid mass into a liquid or a liquid into steam or a gas. In its absence a liquid becomes solid, as when water is changed into ice. Its effects are manifest through all nature; but the present extent of human information is limited to a partial knowledge of the laws by which it is governed. Without heat, the clay would not subserve the purpose of man's ingenuity, the metals could not add to his comfort, and he must forego many of the occupations as well as the enjoyments of life. But how beautifully has the Author of all goodness spread over the surface, and within the bowels of the earth, the means of bringing this latent principle into useful action. The transforming power of heat is most wonderful; it does not annihilate any substance: it may reduce it to powder, to vapour, or to air, but in its gaseous form it becomes the means of nourishing and maturing the animal and the plant. The growth of the acorn into the majestic oak, and the revivification of the various productions of nature, are all to be traced to this principle. They are replenished and brought to perfection by the very process which we, in our ignorance, often suppose to be destructive.

* HEMP. The plant which yields this substance is found in most parts of the world. It is an annual, having nearly simple stems, which grow to the height of five or six feet, and are covered with stiff hairs. The stem contains a very tough woody tissue, which, after being cleared from the pith, is capable of being manufactured into canvas and cordage, and is applied to a variety of most useful purposes. The plant contains a nar