Chapter 17

Modern theories on the nature of “genius” should be studied with considerable detachment, but there is much that is interesting and thought-provoking in such works as J.F. Nisbet’sInsanity of Genius(1891), Sir Francis Galton’sHereditary Genius(new ed., 1892), and C. Lombroso’sMan of Genius(Eng. trans., 1891).

1Frederick the Great, iv. iii. 1407.

GENUS, STÉPHANIE-FÉLICITÉ DU CREST DE SAINT-AUBIN,Comtesse de(1746-1830), French writer and educator, was born of a noble but impoverished Burgundian family, at Champcéry, near Autun, on the 25th of January 1746. When six years of age she was received as a canoness into the noble chapter of Alix, near Lyons, with the title of Madame la Comtesse de Lancy, taken from the town of Bourbon-Lancy. Her entire education, however, was conducted at home. In 1758, in Paris, her skill as a harpist and her vivacious wit speedily attracted admiration. In her sixteenth year she was married to Charles Brûlart de Genlis, a colonel of grenadiers, who afterwards became marquis de Sillery, but this was not allowed to interfere with her determination to remedy her incomplete education, and to satisfy a taste for acquiring and imparting knowledge. Some years later, through the influence of her aunt, Madame de Montesson, who had been clandestinely married to the duke of Orleans, she entered the Palais Royal as lady-in-waiting to the duchess of Chartres (1770). She acted with great energy and zeal as governess to the daughters of the family, and was in 1781appointed by the duke of Chartres to the responsible office ofgouverneurof his sons, a bold step which led to the resignation of all the tutors as well as to much social scandal, though there is no reason to suppose that the intellectual interests of her pupils suffered on that account. The better to carry out her ingenious theories of education, she wrote several works for their use, the best known of which are theThéâtre d’éducation(4 vols., 1779-1780), a collection of short comedies for young people,Les Annales de la vertu(2 vols., 1781) andAdèle et Théodore(3 vols., 1782). Sainte-Beuve tells how she anticipated many modern methods of teaching. History was taught with the help of magic lantern slides and her pupils learnt botany from a practical botanist during their walks. In 1789 Madame de Genlis showed herself favourable to the Revolution, but the fall of the Girondins in 1793 compelled her to take refuge in Switzerland along with her pupil Mademoiselle d’Orléans. In this year her husband, the marquis de Sillery, from whom she had been separated since 1782, was guillotined. An “adopted” daughter, Pamela,1had been married to Lord Edward Fitzgerald (q.v.) in the preceding December.

In 1794 Madame de Genlis fixed her residence at Berlin, but, having been expelled by the orders of King Frederick William, she afterwards settled in Hamburg, where she supported herself for some years by writing and painting. After the revolution of 18th Brumaire (1799) she was permitted to return to France, and was received with favour by Napoleon, who gave her apartments at the arsenal, and afterwards assigned her a pension of 6000 francs. During this period she wrote largely, and produced, in addition to some historical novels, her best romance,Mademoiselle de Clermont(1802). Madame de Genlis had lost her influence over her old pupil Louis Philippe, who visited her but seldom, although he allowed her a small pension. Her government pension was discontinued by Louis XVIII., and she supported herself largely by her pen. Her later years were occupied largely with literary quarrels, notably with that which arose out of the publication of theDîners du Baron d’Holbach(1822), a volume in which she set forth with a good deal of sarcastic cleverness the intolerance, the fanaticism, and the eccentricities of the “philosophes” of the 18th century. She survived until the 31st of December 1830, and saw her former pupil, Louis Philippe, seated on the throne of France.

The numerous works of Madame de Genlis (which considerably exceed eighty), comprising prose and poetical compositions on a vast variety of subjects and of various degrees of merit, owed much of their success to adventitious causes which have long ceased to operate. They are useful, however (especially the voluminousMémoires inédits sur le XVIIIesiècle, 10 vols., 1825), as furnishing material for history. Most of her writings were translated into English almost as soon as they were published. A list of her writings with useful notes is given by Quérard inLa France littéraire. Startling light was thrown on her relations with the duc de Chartres by the publication (1904) of her correspondence with him inL’Idylle d’un “gouverneur”by G. Maugras. See also Sainte-Beuve,Causeries du lundi, vol. iii.; H. Austin Dobson,Four Frenchwomen(1890); L. Chabaud,Les Précurseurs du féminisme(1901); W. de Chabreul,Gouverneur de princes, 1737-1830(1900); andLettres inédites à ... Casimir Baecker, 1802-1830(1902), edited by Henry Lapauze.

1See Gerald Campbell,Edward and Pamela Fitzgerald(1905).

GENNA, a word of obscure origin borrowed from the Assamese, and used technically by anthropologists to describe a class of social and religious ordinances based on sanctions which derive their validity from a vague sense of mysterious danger which results from disobedience to them. These prohibitions—or system of things forbidden—affect the relations, permanent and temporary, of individuals (either as members of a tribe, village, clan or household, or as occupying an official position in the village or clan) towards other persons or groups of persons and towards material objects which possess intrinsic sanctity. The term is extended to the communal rites performed by the village, clan or household, either as magical ceremonies or as prophylactics on special occasions when the social, commensal, conjugal and alimentary relations of the group affected are subjected to temporary modifications. These practices and beliefs are observed among the hill tribes of Assam from the Abors and Mishmis on the north to the Lusheis on the south, all linguistically members of the Tibeto-Burman group, and among the Khasis, members of the Mon-Khmer group. Genna and taboo (q.v.) are products of an identical level of culture and similar psychological processes, and provide the mechanism of the social and religious systems.

Permanent Gennas.—The only universalgennais that which forbids the intermarriage of members of the same clan. In some cases in Manipur animals aregennato the tribe—i.e.they must not be killed or eaten—but tribal differentiation is, in practice, based on dialectical distinctions rather than on tribalgennas. The village as such possesses no permanentgennas, but the clans, as the units of marriage under the law of exogamy, have distinct elementarygennas, especially the clan to which the priest-chief belongs. The most important individualgennasare those which protect the priest-chief from impurity or contact with “sacred” substances such as the flesh of animals used in sacrifices. He may neither eat in a strange house, nor utter words of abuse, nor take an oath in a dispute, except in his representative capacity on behalf of his village. The first-fruits aregennato the village until he eats, thus establishing an opposition between him and his co-villagers. Married and unmarried women are subject to alimentarygennas; thus unmarried girls are forbidden the flesh of any male animal or of any female animal dying gravid.

Ritual Gennas.—Ritualgennasare held annually to foster the rice crops, all other industries and activities beinggenna(forbidden) during the cultivating season, to secure good hunting, to avert sickness, especially epidemics, to take omens, and to lay finally to rest the ghosts of all that have died within the year. The village gates are closed, men and women eat apart, and conjugal relations are suspended. Special villagegennasare held when rain is needed, when a villager dies in any manner out of the ordinary, as women in childbirth, when an animal gives birth to still-born offspring, and when any permanent genna has been violated. Clangennasare held for all ordinary cases of death. Householdgennasare held on the occasions of birth (when the aliment and conduct of the father are specially regulated), naming, ear-piercing, the first hair-cutting, sickness, and, in certain areas, tattooing. Individuals are subjected to temporarygennasas warriors both before and after a head-hunting raid, pregnant women, married persons at the beginning of their married life, the wives of the priest-chief, and those who from ambition or pride of wealth seek to perpetuate their names by erecting a stone monument, an act which confers the right to wear the distinctive clothes of the priest-chief which otherwise aregennato the whole village. Ritualgennasare of varying duration. Some last for a month while others are complete in two days. As religious or magical rites, they prevent danger or establish and restore normal relations with powers which are potentially harmful or require placation.

Authorities.—Official records of the government of India, Nos. 23 (1855), 27 (1859), 68 (1870); Colonel T.H. Lewin,Hill Tracts of Chittagong; Report on the Census of Assam(1891), vol. i. Report, note by A.W. Davis, p. 237 seq.; Major P.R.T. Gurdon,The Khasis(1907); T.C. Hodson,Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. xxxvi. (1906).

(T. C. H.)

GENNADIUS II.[as laymanGeorgios Scholarios] (d.c.1468), patriarch of Constantinople from 1454 to 1456, philosopher and theologian, was one of the last representatives of Byzantine learning. Extremely little is known of his life, but he appears to have been born at Constantinople about 1400 and to have entered the service of the emperor John VII. Paleologus as imperial judge or counsellor. Georgios first appears conspicuously in history as present at the great council held in 1438 at Ferrara and Florence with the object of bringing about a union between the Greek and Latin Churches. At the same council was present the celebrated Platonist, Gemistus Pletho, the most powerful opponent of the then dominant Aristotelianism, and consequently the special object of reprobation to Georgios. In church matters, as in philosophy, the two were opposed,—Pletho maintaining strongly the principles of the Greek Church, and being unwilling to accept union through compromise, while Georgios, more politic and cautious, pressed the necessity for union and was instrumental in drawing up a form which from its vagueness and ambiguity might be accepted by both parties.He was at a disadvantage because, being a layman, he could not directly take part in the discussions of the council. But on his return to Greece his views changed, and he violently and obstinately opposed the union he had previously urged. In 1448 he became a monk at Pantokrator and took the name Gennadius. In 1453, after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, Mahommed II., finding that the patriarchal chair had been vacant for some time, resolved to elect some one to the office, and the choice fell on Gennadius. While holding the episcopal office Gennadius drew up, apparently for the use of Mahommed, a lucid confession or exposition of the Christian faith, which was translated into Turkish by Ahmed, judge of Beroea, and first printed by A. Brassicanus at Vienna in 1530. After a couple of years Gennadius found the position of patriarch under a Turkish sultan so irksome that he retired to the monastery of John the Baptist near Serrae in Macedonia, where he died about 1468. About one hundred of his alleged writings exist, the majority in manuscript and of doubtful authenticity.

The fullest account of his writings is given in Gass,Gennadius and Pletho(Berlin, 1844), the second part of which contains Pletho’sContra Gennadium. See also F. Schultze,Gesch. der Phil. d. Renaissance, i. (1874). A list of the known writings of Gennadius is given in Fabricius,Bibliotheca Graeca, ed. Harles, vol. xi., and what has been printed is to be found in Migne,Patrol. Gr.vol. clx.

GENOA(anc.Genua, Ital.Genova, Fr.Gênes), the chief port of Liguria, Italy, and capital of the province of Genoa, 119 m. N.W. of Leghorn by rail. Pop. (1906) 255,294 (town); 267,248 (commune). The town is situated on the Gulf of Genoa, and is the chief port and commercial town of Italy, the seat of an archbishop and a university, the headquarters of the IV. Italian army corps, and a strong fortress. The city, as seen from the sea, is “built nobly,” and deserves the title it has acquired or assumed of the Superb. Finding only a small space of level ground along the shore, it has been obliged to climb the lower hills of the Ligurian Alps, which afford many a coign of vantage for the effective display of its architectural magnificence. The original nucleus of the city is that portion which lies to the east of the port in the neighbourhood of the old pier (Molo Vecchio). In the 10th century it began to feel a lack of room within the limits of its fortifications; and accordingly, in the middle of the 12th century, it was found necessary to extend the line of circumvallation. Even this second circuit, however, was of small compass, and it was not till 1320-1330 that a third line took in the greater part of the modern site of the city proper. This presented about 3 m. of rampart towards the land side, and can still be easily traced from point to point through the city, though large portions, especially towards the east, have been dismantled. The present line of circumvallation dates from 1626-1632, the period when the independence of Genoa was threatened by the dukes of Savoy. From the mouth of the Bisagno in the east, and from the lighthouse point in the west, it stretches inland over hill and dale to the great fort of Sperone,i.e.the Spur, on the summits of Monte Peraldo at a height of 1650 ft.,—the circuit being little less than 12 m., and all the important points along the line being defended by forts or batteries.

A portion of the enclosed area is open country, dotted only here and there with houses and gardens. There are eight gates, the more important being Porta Pila and Porta Romana towards the east, and the Porta Lanterna or Lighthouse Gate to the west. The main architectural features of Genoa are its medieval churches, with striped façades of black and white marble, and its magnificent 16th-century palaces. The earlier churches of Genoa show a mixture of French Romanesque and the Pisan style—they are mostly basilicas with transepts, and as a rule a small dome; the pillars are sometimes ancient columns, and sometimes formed of alternate layers of black and white marble. The façades are simple, without galleries, having only pilasters projecting from the wall, and are also alternately black and white. This style continued in Gothic times also. The oldest is S. Maria di Castello (11th century), the columns and capitals of which are almost all antique. S. Cosma, S. Donato (with remains of the 10th-century building) and others belong to the 12th century, and S. Giovanni di Prè, S. Agostino (with a fine campanile), S. Stefano, S. Matteo and others to the 13th. The famous painting of the martyrdom of S. Stephen, by Giulio Romano, carried off by Napoleon in 1811, was restored to S. Stefano in 1815. S. Matteo, the church of the D’Oria or Doria family, was founded in 1126 by Martino Doria. The façade dates from 1278, and the interior of the edifice dates in the main from 1543. In the crypt is the tomb of Andrea Doria by Montorsoli, and above the main altar hangs the dagger presented to the doge by Pope Paul III. To the left of the church is an exquisite cloister of 1308 with double columns, in which a number of inscriptions relating to the Doria family and also the statue of Andrea Doria by Montorsoli are preserved. The little square in front of the church is surrounded by Gothic palaces of the Doria family. Of the churches the principal is the comparatively small cathedral of S. Lorenzo. Tradition makes its first foundation contemporary with St Lawrence himself; and a document of 987 implies that it was even then the metropolitan church. Reconstructed about the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th century, it was formally consecrated by Pope Gelasius II. on the 18th of October 1118; and since then it has undergone a large number of extensive though partial renovations. The façade, with its three elaborate doorways, belongs to the 14th century and is a copy of French models of the 13th. The two side portals with Romanesque sculptures belong to the 12th-14th centuries. Some pagan reliefs are built into the tower. The interior was rebuilt in 1307, the old columns being used. The belfry, which rises above the right-hand doorway, was erected about 1520 by the doge, Ottaviano da Campofragoso, and the cupola was erected after the designs of the architect Galeazzo Alessi in 1567. The fine Early Renaissance (1448) sculptural decorations of the chapel of S. John the Baptist were due to Domenico Gagini of Bissone on the Lake of Lugano, who later transferred his activities to Naples and Palermo, and other Lombard masters. An edict of Innocent VIII. forbids women to enter the chapel except on one day in the year. In the treasury of the cathedral is a magnificent silver monstrance dating from 1553, and an octagonal bowl, the Sacro Catino, brought from Caesarea in 1101, which corresponds to the descriptions given of the Holy Grail, and was long regarded as an emerald of matchless value, but was found when broken at Paris, whither it had been carried by Napoleon I., to be only a remarkable piece of ancient glass. The choir-stalls are a very fine work of the 15th century and later, with intarsias. Near the cathedral is a small 12th-century (?) cloister.

Of older date than the cathedral is the church of S. Ambrose and S. Andrew, if its first foundation be correctly assigned to the Milanese bishop Honoratus of the 6th century; but the present edifice is due to the Society of Jesus, who obtained possession of the church in 1587. The interior is richly decorated and contains the “Circumcision” and “St Ignatius” by Rubens, and the “Assumption” of Guido Reni. The Annunziata del Guastato is one of the largest churches in the city, erected in 1587. It is a cruciform structure, with a dome, and the central nave is supported by fourteen Corinthian columns of white marble. To the otherwise unfinished brick façade a portal borne by marble columns was added in 1843. The interior is covered with gilding and frescoes of the 17th century, and is somewhat overloaded with rich decoration, while a range of white marble columns supports the nave. Santa Maria delle Vigne probably dates from the 9th century, but the present structure was erected in 1586. The campanile, however, is a remarkable work of the 13th century. Adjoining the church is a ruined cloister of the 11th century. San Siro, originally the “Church of the Apostles” and the cathedral of Genoa, was rebuilt by the Benedictines in the 11th century, and restored and enlarged by the Theatines in 1576, the façade being added in 1830; in this church in 1339 Simone Boccanera was elected first doge of Genoa. Santa Maria di Carignano, or more correctly Santa Maria Assunta e SS. Fabiano e Sebastiano, belongs mainly to the 16th century, and was designed by Galeazzo Alessi, in imitation of Bramante’s plan for S. Peter’s at Rome, as it was then being executed byMichelangelo. The interior is fine, harmonious and restrained, painted in white and grey, while the colouring of the exterior is less pleasing. From the highest gallery of the dome—368 ft. above the sea-level, and 194 ft. above the ground—a magnificent view is obtained of the city and the neighbouring coast.

Buildings of the 15th century do not occupy an important place in Genoa, but there are some small private houses and remains of sculptural decoration of the Early Renaissance to be seen in the older portions of the town. The palaces of the Genoese patricians, famous for their sumptuous architecture, their general effectiveness (though the architectural details are often faulty if closely examined), and their artistic collections, were many of them built in the latter part of the 16th century by Galeazzo Alessi, a pupil of Michelangelo, whose style is of an imposing and uniform character and displays marvellous ingenuity in using a limited or unfavourable site to the greatest advantage. Several of the villas in the vicinity of the city are also his work. The Via Garibaldi is flanked by a succession of magnificent palaces, chief among which is the Palazzo Rosso, so called from its red colour. Formerly the palace of the Brignole-Sale family, it was presented by the duchess of Galliera to the city in 1874, along with its valuable contents, its library and picture gallery, which includes fine examples of Van Dyck and Paris Bordone. The Palazzo Municipale, built by Rocco Lurago at the end of the 16th century, once the property of the dukes of Turin, has a beautiful entrance court and a hanging terraced garden fronting a noble staircase of marble which leads to the spacious council chamber. In an adjoining room are preserved a bronze tablet dating from 117B.C.(see below), two autograph letters of Columbus, and the violin of Paganini, also a native of Genoa. Opposite the Palazzo Rosso is the Palazzo Bianco, a palace full of art treasures bequeathed to the city by the duchess of Galliera upon her death in 1889, and subsequently converted into a museum. The Roman antiquities here preserved belong to other places—Luna, Libarna, &c. The Adorno, Giorgio Doria (both containing small but choice picture-galleries), Parodi and Serra and other palaces in this street are worthy of mention. The Via Balbi again contains a number of palaces. The Durazzo Pallavicini palace has a noble façade and staircase and a rich picture-gallery. The street takes its name, however, from the Palazzo Balbi-Senarega, which has Doric colonnades and a fine orangery. The Palazzo dell’ Università has an extremely fine court and staircase of the early 17th century. The Palazzo Reale is also handsome but somewhat later. The Palazzo Doria in the Piazza del Principe, presented to Andrea Doria by the Genoese in 1522, is on the other hand earlier; it was remodelled in 1529 by Montorsoli and decorated with fine frescoes by Perino del Vaga. The old palace of the doges, originally a building of the 13th century, to which the tower alone belongs, the rest of the building having been remodelled in the 16th century and modernized after a fire in 1777, stands in the Piazza Umberto Primo near the cathedral, and now contains the telegraph and other government offices. Another very fine building is the Gothic Palazzo di S. Giorgio, near the harbour, dating from about 1260, occupied from 1408 to 1797 by the Banca di S. Giorgio, and now converted into a produce exchange. The Campo Santo or Cimitero di Staglieno, about 1½ m. from the city on the banks of the Bisagno, is one of the chief features of Genoa; its situation is of great natural beauty and it is remarkable for its sepulchral monuments, many of which have been executed by the foremost sculptors of modern Italy. The university, founded in 1471, is a flourishing institution with faculties in law, medicine, natural science, engineering and philosophy. Attached to it are a library, an observatory, a botanical garden, and a physical and natural history museum. Genoa is also well supplied with technical schools and other institutions for higher education, while ample provision is made for primary education. The hospitals and the asylum for the poor are among the finest institutions of their kind in Italy. Mention must also be made of the Academy of Fine Arts, the municipal library, the great Teatro Carlo Felice and the Verdi Institute of Music.

The irregular relief of its site and its long confinement within the limits of fortifications, which it had outgrown, have both contributed to render Genoa a picturesque confusion of narrow streets, lanes and alleys, varied with stairways climbing the steeper slopes and bridges spanning the deeper valleys. Large portions of the town are inaccessible to ordinary carriages, and many of the important streets have very little room for traffic. In modern times, however, a number of fine streets and squares with beautiful gardens have been laid out. The Piazza Ferrari, a large irregular space, is the chief focus of traffic and the centre of the Genoese tramway system; it is embellished with a fine equestrian statue of Garibaldi, unveiled in 1893, which stands in front of the Teatro Carlo Felice. Leading from this piazza is the Via Venti Settembre, a broad, handsome street laid out since 1887, leading south-east to the Ponte Pila, the central bridge over the Bisagno. The street is itself spanned by an elegant bridge carrying the Corso Andrea Podesta, a modern avenue on the heights above. Adjoining the church of the Madonna della Consolazione is the new market, a building of no little beauty. The Via Roma, another important centre of traffic which gives on to the Via Carlo Felice near the Piazza Ferrari, leads to the Piazza Corvetto, in the centre of which stands the colossal equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II. To the left is the Villetta Dinegro, a beautiful park belonging to the city, decorated with cascades and a number of statues and busts of prominent statesmen and citizens. To the right is another park, the Acquasola, laid out in 1837 on the site of the old ramparts. In the west of the city, in front of the principal station, is the Piazza Acquaverde. On the north side, embowered in palm trees, is a great statue of Columbus, at whose feet kneels the figure of America. Opposite is the Palazzo Faraggiana, with scenes from the life of Columbus in relief on its marble pediment. Among other modern thoroughfares, the Via di Circonvallazione a Monte, laid out since 1876 on the hills at the back of the town, leads by many curves from the Piazza Manin along the hill-tops westward, and finally descends into the Piazza Acquaverde; its entire length is traversed by an electric tramway, and it commands magnificent views of the town. A similar road, the Via di Circonvallazione a Mare, was laid out in 1893-1895 on the site of the outer ramparts, and skirts the sea-front from the Piazza Cavour to the mouth of the Bisagno, thence ascending the right bank to the Ponte Pila. Genoa is remarkably well served with electric tramways, which are found in all the wider streets, and run, often through tunnels, into the suburbs and to the surrounding country on the east as far as Nervi and to Pegli oh the west. Three funicular railways from different points of the city give access to the highest parts of the hills behind the town.

Though its existence as a maritime power was originally due to its port, it is only since 1870 that Genoa has provided the conveniences necessary for the modern development of its trade, the duke of Galliera’s gift of £800,000 to the city in 1875 being devoted to this purpose. A further enlargement of the harbour was necessitated upon the opening of the St Gotthard tunnel in 1882, which extended the commercial range of the port through Switzerland into Germany. The old harbour is semi-circular in shape, 232 acres in area, with numerous quays, and protected by moles from southern and south-westerly winds. An outer harbour, 247 acres in area, has been constructed in front of this by extending the Molo Nuovo by the Molo Duca di Galliera, and another basin, the Vittorio Emanuele III., for coal vessels, with an area of 96 acres, is in course of construction to the west of this, between it and the lofty lighthouse which rises on the promontory at the south-west extremity of the harbour. This basin is to be entered from both the east and the west, and allows for a future extension in front of San Pier d’Arena as far as the mouth of the river Polcevera. The port administration was placed under an autonomous harbour board (consorzio) in 1903. The largest ships can enter the harbour, which has a minimum depth of 30 ft.; it has two dry docks, a graving dock and a floating dry dock. Very large warehouses have been constructed. The exports are olive oil, hemp, flax, rice, fruit, wine, hats, cheese, steel, velvets, gloves, flour, paper, soap and marble, while the main imports are coal, cotton, grain, machinery, &c. Genoa has a large emigrant traffic with America, and a large general passenger steamer traffic both for America and for the East.The development of industry has kept pace with that of the harbour. The Ansaldo shipbuilding yards construct armoured cruisers both for the Italian navy and for foreign governments,The Odero yards, for the construction of merchant and passenger steamers, have been similarly extended, and the Foce yard is also important. A number of foundries and metallurgical works supply material for repairs and shipbuilding. The sugar-refining industry has been introduced by two important companies, and most of the capital employed in sugar-refining in other parts of Italy has been subscribed at Genoa, where the administrative offices of the principal companies and individual refiners are situated. The old industries of macaroni and cognate products maintain their superiority. Tanneries and cotton-spinning and weaving mills have considerably extended throughout the province. Cement works have acquired an extension previously unknown, more than thirty firms being now engaged in that branch of industry. The manufactures of crystallized fruits and of filigree silver-work may also be mentioned. The trade of the port increased from well under 1,000,000 tons in 1876 to 6,164,873 metric tons in 1906 (the latter figure, however, includes home trade in a proportion of about 12%). Of this large total 5,365,544 tons are imports and only 799,319 tons are exports, and, comparing 1906 with 1905, we have a decrease of 34,355 tons on the exports, and an increase of 436,123 tons on the imports. The effect upon the railway problem is of course very great, inasmuch as, while the supply of trucks required per day in 1906 was from 1000 to 1200, about 80% of these had to be sent down empty to the harbour. Of the four main lines which centre on Genoa—(1) to Novi, which is the junction for Alessandria, where lines diverge to Turin and France via the Mont Cenis, and to Novara and Switzerland and France via the Simplon, and for Milan; (2) to Acqui and Piedmont; (3) to Savona, Ventimiglia and the French Riviera, along the coast; (4) to Spezia and Pisa—the first line has to take no less than 78% of the traffic. It has indeed two alternative double lines for the passage over the Apennines, but one of them has a maximum gradient of 1 : 18 and a tunnel over 2 m. long, and the other has a maximum gradient of 1 : 62, and a tunnel over 5 m. long. A marshalling station costing some £800,000, connected directly with the harbour by tunnels, with 31 m. of rails, capable of taking 2000 trucks, was constructed at Campasso in 1906 north of San Pier d’Arena (through which till then the traffic of the first three lines, representing 95% of the total, had to pass). It is computed that some 40% of the total commerce of Italy passes through Genoa; it is indeed the most important harbour in the western Mediterranean, with the exception of Marseilles, with which it carries on a keen rivalry. Genoa has in the past been somewhat handicapped in the race by the insufficiency of railway communication, which, owing to the mountains which encircle it, is difficult to secure, many tunnels being necessary. The general condition of the Italian railways has also affected it, and the increased traffic has not always found the necessary facilities in the way of a proper amount of trucks to receive the goods discharged, leading to considerable encumbrance of the port and consequent diversion of a certain amount of trade elsewhere, and besides this to serious temporary deficiencies in the coal supply of northern Italy.The imports of Genoa are divided into four main classes: about 50% of the total weight is coal, grain about 12%, cotton about 6%, and miscellaneous about 34%. Of the coal imports the great bulk is from British ports: about half comes from Cardiff and Barry, one-tenth from other Welsh ports, one-fifth from the Tyne ports. The amount shows an almost continued increase from 617,798 tons in 1881 to 2,737,919 in 1906. The total of shipping entered in 1906 was 6586 vessels with a tonnage of 6,867,442, while that cleared was 6611 vessels with a tonnage of 6,682,104.

The development of industry has kept pace with that of the harbour. The Ansaldo shipbuilding yards construct armoured cruisers both for the Italian navy and for foreign governments,The Odero yards, for the construction of merchant and passenger steamers, have been similarly extended, and the Foce yard is also important. A number of foundries and metallurgical works supply material for repairs and shipbuilding. The sugar-refining industry has been introduced by two important companies, and most of the capital employed in sugar-refining in other parts of Italy has been subscribed at Genoa, where the administrative offices of the principal companies and individual refiners are situated. The old industries of macaroni and cognate products maintain their superiority. Tanneries and cotton-spinning and weaving mills have considerably extended throughout the province. Cement works have acquired an extension previously unknown, more than thirty firms being now engaged in that branch of industry. The manufactures of crystallized fruits and of filigree silver-work may also be mentioned. The trade of the port increased from well under 1,000,000 tons in 1876 to 6,164,873 metric tons in 1906 (the latter figure, however, includes home trade in a proportion of about 12%). Of this large total 5,365,544 tons are imports and only 799,319 tons are exports, and, comparing 1906 with 1905, we have a decrease of 34,355 tons on the exports, and an increase of 436,123 tons on the imports. The effect upon the railway problem is of course very great, inasmuch as, while the supply of trucks required per day in 1906 was from 1000 to 1200, about 80% of these had to be sent down empty to the harbour. Of the four main lines which centre on Genoa—(1) to Novi, which is the junction for Alessandria, where lines diverge to Turin and France via the Mont Cenis, and to Novara and Switzerland and France via the Simplon, and for Milan; (2) to Acqui and Piedmont; (3) to Savona, Ventimiglia and the French Riviera, along the coast; (4) to Spezia and Pisa—the first line has to take no less than 78% of the traffic. It has indeed two alternative double lines for the passage over the Apennines, but one of them has a maximum gradient of 1 : 18 and a tunnel over 2 m. long, and the other has a maximum gradient of 1 : 62, and a tunnel over 5 m. long. A marshalling station costing some £800,000, connected directly with the harbour by tunnels, with 31 m. of rails, capable of taking 2000 trucks, was constructed at Campasso in 1906 north of San Pier d’Arena (through which till then the traffic of the first three lines, representing 95% of the total, had to pass). It is computed that some 40% of the total commerce of Italy passes through Genoa; it is indeed the most important harbour in the western Mediterranean, with the exception of Marseilles, with which it carries on a keen rivalry. Genoa has in the past been somewhat handicapped in the race by the insufficiency of railway communication, which, owing to the mountains which encircle it, is difficult to secure, many tunnels being necessary. The general condition of the Italian railways has also affected it, and the increased traffic has not always found the necessary facilities in the way of a proper amount of trucks to receive the goods discharged, leading to considerable encumbrance of the port and consequent diversion of a certain amount of trade elsewhere, and besides this to serious temporary deficiencies in the coal supply of northern Italy.

The imports of Genoa are divided into four main classes: about 50% of the total weight is coal, grain about 12%, cotton about 6%, and miscellaneous about 34%. Of the coal imports the great bulk is from British ports: about half comes from Cardiff and Barry, one-tenth from other Welsh ports, one-fifth from the Tyne ports. The amount shows an almost continued increase from 617,798 tons in 1881 to 2,737,919 in 1906. The total of shipping entered in 1906 was 6586 vessels with a tonnage of 6,867,442, while that cleared was 6611 vessels with a tonnage of 6,682,104.

History.—Genoa, being a natural harbour of the first rank, must have been in use as a seaport as early as navigation began in the Tyrrhenian Sea. We hear nothing from ancient authorities of its having been visited or occupied by the Greeks, but the discovery of a Greek cemetery of the 4th centuryB.C.1proves it. The construction of the Via Venti Settembre gave occasion for the discovery of a number of tombs, 85 in all, the bulk of which dated from the end of the 5th and the 4th centuriesB.C.The bodies had in all cases been cremated, and were buried in small shaft graves, the interment itself being covered by a slab of limestone. The vases were of the last red figure style, and were mostly imported from Greece or Magna Graecia, while the bronze objects came from Etruria, and the brooches (fibulae) from Gaul. This illustrates the early importance of Genoa as a trading port, and the penetration of Greek customs, inhumation being the usual practice of the Ligurians. Genoa is believed to derive its name from the fact that the shape of this portion of the coast resembles that of a knee (genu).

We hear of the Romans touching here in 216B.C., and of its destruction by the Carthaginians in 209B.C.and immediate restoration by the Romans, who made it and Placentia their headquarters against the Ligurians. It was reached from Rome by the Via Aurelia, which ran along the north-west coast, and its prolongation, which later acquired the name of the Via Aemilia (Scauri); for the latter was only constructed in 109B.C., and there must have been a coast-road long before, at least as early as 148B.C., when the Via Postumia was built from Genua through Libarna (mod. Serravalle, where remains of an amphitheatre and inscriptions have been found), Dertona, Iria, Placentia, Cremona, and thence eastwards. We also have an inscription of 117B.C.(now preserved in the Palazzo Municipale at Genoa) giving the text of the decision given by thepatroni, Q. and M. Minucius, of Genua, in accordance with a decree of the Roman senate, in a controversy between the people of Genua and the Langenses or Langates (also known as the Viturii), the inhabitants of a neighbouring hill-town, which was included in the territory of Genua. But none of the other inscriptions found in Genoa or existing there at the present day, which are practically all sepulchral, can be demonstrated to have belonged to the ancient city; it is equally easy to suppose that they were brought from elsewhere by sea (Mommsen inCorp. Inscr. Lat.v. p. 884). It is only from inscriptions of other places that we know that it had municipal rights, and we do not know at what period it obtained them. Classical authors tell us but little of it. Strabo (iv. 6. 2, p. 202) states that it exported wood, skins and honey, and imported olive oil and wine, though Pliny speaks of the wine of the district as the best of Liguria (H.N.xiv. 67.)

The history of Genoa during the dark ages, throughout the Lombard and Carolingian periods, is but the repetition of the general history of the Italian communes, which succeeded in snatching from contending princes and barons the first charters of their freedom. The patriotic spirit and naval prowess of the Genoese, developed in their defensive wars against the Saracens, led to the foundation of a popular constitution, and to the rapid growth of a powerful marine. From the necessity of leaguing together against the common Saracen foe, Genoa united with Pisa early in the 11th century in expelling the Moslems from the island of Sardinia, but the Sardinian territory thus acquired soon furnished occasions of jealousy to the conquering allies, and there commenced between the two republics the long naval wars destined to terminate so fatally for Pisa. With not less adroitness than Venice, Genoa saw and secured all the advantages of the great carrying trade which the crusades created between Western Europe and the East. The seaports wrested at the same period from the Saracens along the Spanish and Barbary coasts became important Genoese colonies, whilst in the Levant, on the shores of the Black Sea, and along the banks of the Euphrates were erected Genoese fortresses of great strength. No wonder if these conquests generated in the minds of the Venetians and the Pisans fresh jealousy against Genoa, and provoked fresh wars; but the struggle between Genoa and Pisa was brought to a disastrous conclusion for the latter state by the battle of Meloria in 1284.

The commercial and naval successes of the Genoese during the middle ages were the more remarkable because, unlike their rivals, the Venetians, they were the unceasing prey to intestine discord—the Genoese commons and nobles fighting against each other, rival factions amongst the nobles themselves striving to grasp the supreme power in the state, nobles and commons alike invoking the arbitration and rule of some foreign captain as the sole means of obtaining a temporary truce. From these contests of rival nobles, in which the names of Spinola and Doria stand forth with greatest prominence, Genoa was soon drawn into the great vortex of the Guelph and Ghibelline factions; but its recognition of foreign authority—successively German, Neapolitan and Milanese—gave way to a state of greater independence in 1339, when the government assumed a more permanent form with the appointment of the first doge, an office held at Genoa for life, in the person of Simone Boccanera. Alternate victories and defeats of the Venetians and Genoese—the most terrible being the defeat sustained by the Venetians at Chioggia in 1380—ended by establishing the great relative inferiority of the Genoese rulers, who fell under the power now of France, now of the Visconti of Milan. The Banca di S. Giorgio, with its large possessions,mainly in Corsica, formed during this period the most stable element in the state, until in 1528 the national spirit appeared to regain its ancient vigour when Andrea Doria succeeded in throwing off the French domination and restoring the old form of government. It was at this very period—the close of the 15th and commencement of the 16th century—that the genius and daring of a Genoese mariner, Christopher Columbus, gave to Spain that new world, which might have become the possession of his native state, had Genoa been able to supply him with the ships and seamen which he so earnestly entreated her to furnish. The government as restored by Andrea Doria, with certain modifications tending to impart to it a more conservative character, remained unchanged until the outbreak of the French Revolution and the creation of the Ligurian republic. During this long period of nearly three centuries, in which the most dramatic incident is the conspiracy of Fieschi, the Genoese found no small compensation for their lost traffic in the East in the vast profits which they made as the bankers of the Spanish crown and outfitters of the Spanish armies and fleets both in the old world and the new, and Genoa, more fortunate than many of the other cities of Italy, was comparatively immune from foreign domination.

At the end of the 17th century the city was bombarded by the French, and in 1746, after the defeat of Piacenza, surrendered to the Austrians, who were, however, soon driven out. A revolt in Corsica, which began in 1729, was suppressed with the help of the French, who in 1768 took possession of the island for themselves (seeCorsica:History).

The short-lived Ligurian republic was soon swallowed up in the French empire, not, however, until Genoa had been made to experience, by the terrible privations of the siege when Masséna held the city against the Austrians (1800), all that was meant by a participation in the vicissitudes of the French Revolution. In 1814 Genoa rose against the French, on the assurance given by Lord William Bentinck that the allies would restore to the republic its independence. It had, however, been determined by a secret clause of the treaty of Paris that Genoa should be incorporated with the dominions of the king of Sardinia. The discontent created at the time by the provision of the treaty of Paris as confirmed by the congress of Vienna had doubtless no slight share in keeping alive in Genoa the republican spirit which, through the influence of a young Genoese citizen, Joseph Mazzini, assumed forms of permanent menace not only to the Sardinian monarchy but to all the established governments of the peninsula. Even the material benefits accruing from the union with Sardinia and the constitutional liberty accorded to all his subjects by King Charles Albert were unable to prevent the republican outbreak of 1848, when, after a short and sharp struggle, the city, momentarily seized by the republican party, was recovered by General Alfonzo La Marmora.

Among the earlier Genoese historians the most important are Bartolommeo Fazio and Jacopo Bracelli, both of the 15th century, and Paolo Partenopeo, Jacopo Bonfadio, Oberto Foglietta and Agostino Giustiniano of the 16th. Paganetti wrote the ecclesiastical history of the city; and Accinelli and Gaggero collected material for the ecclesiastical archaeology. The memoirs of local writers and artists were treated by Soprani and Ratti. Among more general works are Bréquigny,Histoire des révolutions de Gênes jusqu’en 1748; Serra,La Storia dell’ antica Liguria e di Genova(Turin, 1834); Varesi,Storia della repubblica di Genova sino al 1814(Genoa, 1835-1839); Canale,Storia dei Genovesi(Genoa, 1844-1854),Nuova istoria della repubblica di Genova(Florence, 1858), andStoria della rep. di Genova dall’ anno 1528 al 1550(Genoa, 1874); Blumenthal,Zur Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsgeschichte Genua’s im 12ten Jahrhundert(Kalbe an der Saale, 1872); Malleson,Studies from Genoese History(London, 1875). TheLiber jurium reipublicae Genuensiswas edited by Ricotti in the 7th, 8th and 9th volumes of theMonumenta historiae patriae(Turin, 1854-1857). A great variety of interesting matter will be found in theAtti della Società Ligure di storia patria(1861 sqq.), and in theGiornale Ligustico di archeologia, storia, e belle arti. The history of the university has been written by Lorenzo Isnardi, and continued by Em. Celesia (2 vols., Genoa).

(T. As.)

1SeeNotizie degli scavi(1898), 395 (A. d’Andrade), 464 (G. Ghirardini).

GENOVESI, ANTONIO(1712-1769), Italian writer on philosophy and political economy, was born at Castiglione, near Salerno, on the 1st of November 1712. He was educated for the church, and, after some hesitation, took orders in 1736 at Salerno, where he was appointed professor of eloquence at the theological seminary. During this period of his life he began the study of philosophy, being especially attracted by Locke. Dissatisfied with ecclesiastical life, Genovesi resigned his post, and qualified as an advocate at Rome. Finding law as distasteful as theology, he devoted himself entirely to philosophy, of which he was appointed extraordinary professor in the university of Naples. His first works wereElementa Metaphysicae(1743 et seq.) andLogica(1745). The former is divided into four parts, Ontosophy, Cosmosophy, Theosophy, Psychosophy, supplemented by a treatise on ethics and a dissertation on first causes. TheLogic, an eminently practical work, written from the point of view of Locke, is in five parts, dealing with (1) the nature of the human mind, its faculties and operations; (2) ideas and their kinds; (3) the true and the false, and the various degrees of knowledge; (4) reasoning and argumentation; (5) method and the ordering of our thoughts. If Genovesi does not take a high rank in philosophy, he deserves the credit of having introduced the new order of ideas into Italy, at the same time preserving a just mean between the two extremes of sensualism and idealism. Although bitterly opposed by the partisans of scholastic routine, Genovesi found influential patrons, amongst them Bartolomeo Intieri, a Florentine, who in 1754 founded the first Italian or European chair of political economy (commerce and mechanics), on condition that Genovesi should be the first professor, and that it should never be held by an ecclesiastic. The fruit of Genovesi’s professorial labours was theLezioni di Commercio, the first complete and systematic work in Italian on economics. On the whole he belongs to the “Mercantile” school, though he does not regard money as the only form of wealth. Specially noteworthy in theLezioniare the sections on human wants as the foundation of economical theory, on labour as the source of wealth, on personal services as economic factors, and on the united working of the great industrial functions. He advocated freedom of the corn trade, reduction of the number of religious communities, and deprecated regulation of the interest on loans. In the spirit of his age he denounced the relics of medieval institutions, such as entails and tenures in mortmain. Gioja’s more important treatise owes much to Genovesi’s lectures. Genovesi died on the 22nd of September 1769.

See C. Ugoni,Della letteratura italiana nella seconda metà del secolo XVIII(1820-1822); A. Fabroni,Vitae Italorum doctrina excellentium(1778-1799); R. Bobba,Commemorazione di A. Genovesi(Benevento, 1867).

GENSONNÉ, ARMAND(1758-1793), French politician, the son of a military surgeon, was born at Bordeaux on the 10th of August 1758. He studied law, and at the outbreak of the Revolution was an advocate of the parlement of Bordeaux. In 1790 he becameprocureurof the Commune, and in July 1791 was elected by the newly created department of the Gironde a member of the court of appeal. In the same year he was elected deputy for the department to the Legislative Assembly. As reporter of the diplomatic committee, in which he supported the policy of Brissot, he proposed two of the most revolutionary measures passed by the Assembly: the decree of accusation against the king’s brothers (January 1, 1792), and the declaration of war against the king of Bohemia and Hungary (April 20, 1792). He was vigorous in his denunciations of the intrigues of the court and of the “Austrian committee”; but the violence of the extreme democrats, culminating in the events of the 10th of August, alarmed him; and when he was returned to the National Convention, he attacked the Commune of Paris (October 24 and 25). At the trial of Louis XVI. he supported an appeal to the people, but voted for the death sentence. As a member of the Committee of General Defence, and as president of the Convention (March 7-21, 1793), he shared in the bitter attacks of the Girondists on the Mountain; and on the fatal day of the 2nd of June his name was among the first of those inscribed on the prosecution list. He was tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal on the 24th of October 1793, condemned to death and guillotined on the 31st of the month, displaying on the scaffold a stoic fortitude. Gensonné was accounted one of the most brilliant of the little band of brilliantorators from the Gironde, though his eloquence was somewhat cold and he always read his speeches.

GENTIAN, botanicallyGentiana, a large genus of herbaceous plants belonging to the natural order Gentianaceae. The genus comprises about 300 species,—most of them perennial plants with tufted growth, growing in hilly or mountainous districts, chiefly in the northern hemisphere, some of the blue-flowered species ascending to a height of 16,000 ft. in the Himalaya Mountains. The leaves are opposite, entire and smooth, and often strongly ribbed. The flowers have a persistent 4- to 5-lobed calyx and a 4- to 5-lobed tubular corolla; the stamens are equal in number to the lobes of the corolla. The ovary is one-celled, with two stigmas, either separate and rolled back or contiguous and funnel-shaped. The fruit when ripe separates into two valves, and contains numerous small seeds. The majority of the genus are remarkable for the deep or brilliant blue colour of their blossoms, comparatively few having yellow, white, or more rarely red flowers; the last are almost exclusively found in the Andes.

Only a few species occur in Britain.G. amarella(felwort) andG. campestrisare small annual species growing on chalky or calcareous hills, and bear in autumn somewhat tubular pale purple flowers; the latter is most easily distinguished by having two of the lobes of the calyx larger than the other two, while the former has the parts of the calyx in fives, and equal in size. Some intermediate forms between these two species occur, although rarely, in England; one of these,G. germanica, has larger flowers of a bluer tint, spreading branches, and a stouter stem. Some of these forms flower in spring.G. pneumonanthe, the Calathian violet, is a rather rare perennial species, growing in moist heathy places from Cumberland to Dorsetshire. Its average height is from 6 to 9 in. It has linear leaves, and a bright blue corolla 1½ in. long, marked externally with five greenish bands, is without hairs in its throat, and is found in perfection about the end of August. It is the handsomest of the British species; two varieties of it are known in cultivation, one with spotted and the other with white flowers.G. vernaandG. nivalisare small species with brilliant blue flowers and small leaves. The former is a rare and local perennial, occurring, however, in Teesdale and the county of Clare in Ireland in tolerable abundance. It has a tufted habit of growth, and each stem bears only one flower. It is sometimes cultivated as an edging for flower borders.G. nivalisin Britain occurs only on a few of the loftiest Scottish mountains. It differs from the last in being an annual, and having a more isolated habit of growth, and in the stem bearing several flowers. On the Swiss mountains these beautiful little plants are very abundant; and the splendid blue colour of masses of gentian in flower is a sight which, when once seen, can never be forgotten. For ornamental purposes several species are cultivated. The great difficulty of growing them successfully renders them, however, less common than would otherwise be the case; although very hardy when once established, they are very impatient of removal, and rarely flower well until the third year after planting. Of the ornamental species found in British gardens some of the prettiest areG. acaulis,G. verna,G. pyrenaica,G. bavarica,G. septemfidaandG. gelida. Perhaps the handsomest and most easily grown is the first named, often calledGentianella, which produces its large intensely blue flowers early in the spring.

All the species of the genus are remarkable for possessing an intense but pure bitter taste and tonic properties. About forty species are used in medicine in different parts of the world. The name of felwort given toG. amarella, but occasionally applied to the whole genus, is stated by Dr Prior to be given in allusion to these properties—felmeaning gall, andworta plant. In the same way the Chinese callG. asclepiadea, and the JapaneseG. Buergeri, “dragon’s gall plants,” in common with several other very bitter plants whose roots they use in medicine.G. campestrisis sometimes used in Sweden and other northern countries as a substitute for hops.

By far the most important of the species used in medicine isG. lutea, a large handsome plant 3 or 4 ft. 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 flowers. Its use in medicine is of very ancient date. Pliny and Dioscorides mention that the plant was noticed by Gentius, a king of the Illyrians, living 180-167B.C., from whom the nameGentianais 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 Hieronymus Bock (Tragus) (1498-1554), a German priest, physician and botanist, 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. The bitter principle, known asgentianin, is a glucoside, soluble in water and alcohol. It can be decomposed into glucose and gentiopicrin by the action of dilute mineral acids. It is not precipitated by tannin or subacetate of lead. A solution of caustic potash or soda forms with gentianin a yellow solution, and the tincture of the root to which either of these alkalis has been added loses its bitterness in a few days. Gentian root also containsgentianic acid(C14H10O5), 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 is also calledgentianin,gentisinandgentisic acid.

The root also contains 12 to 15% of an uncrystallizable sugar called gentianose, of which fact advantage has long been taken in Switzerland and Bavaria for the production of a bitter cordial spirit calledEnzianbranntwein. The use of this spirit, especially in Switzerland, has sometimes been followed by poisonous symptoms, which have been doubtfully attributed to inherent narcotic properties possessed by some species of gentian, the roots of which may have been indiscriminately collected with it; but it is quite possible that it may be due to the contamination of the root with that ofVeratrum album, a poisonous plant growing at the same altitude, and having leaves extremely similar in appearance and size to those ofG. lutea.

Gentian is one of the most efficient of the 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. Having a pleasant taste and being non-astringent (owing to the absence of tannic acid), it is the most widely used of all bitter tonics. The British Pharmacopoeia contains an aqueous extract (dose, 2-8 grains), a compound infusion with orange and lemon peel (dose, ½-1 ounce), and a compound tincture with orange peel and cardamoms (dose ½-1 drachm). 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 calleddiapenteas a chief ingredient.

GENTIANACEAE(the gentian family), in botany, an order of Dicotyledons belonging to the sub-class Sympetalae or Gamopetalae, and containing about 750 species in 64 genera. It has a world-wide distribution, and representatives adapted to very various conditions, including, for instance, alpine plants, like the true gentians (Gentiana), meadow plants such as the BritishChlora perfoliata(yellow-wort) orErythraea Centaurium(centaury), marsh plants such asMenyanthes trifoliata(bog-bean), floating water plants such asLimnanthemum, or steppe and sea-coast plants such asCicendia. They are annual or perennial herbs, rarely becoming shrubby, and generally growing erect, with a characteristic forked manner of branching; the Asiatic genusCrawfurdiahas a climbing stem; they are often low-growing and caespitose, as in the alpine gentians.

1, A small form, natural size.

2, Calyx and protruding style.

3, Corolla, laid open.

4, Capsule, bursting into two valves, and showing the seeds attached to their margins.

5, Floral diagram.

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