GAS
( "O
GAV
for which Service, it has been ufual to join him in Commif- fion with fome Peer of the Realm.
Garters Oath relates only to Services to be performed within the Order ; and is taken in Chapter before the Sove- reign and Knights. His Oath, as King at Arms, is taken before the Earl Marfhal.
Garter is alfo a Term in Heraldry, fignifying the Moiety, or half of a Send. See Bend.
GAS, in Chemiftry, a Term us'd by Van Helmont, to exprefs the Seeds, or Fermentations, or firft Principles of Things: But he applies it fo obfhirely, and precarioufly, that 'tis hard reducing it to any one Senfe.
Thus, he calls the vital Principle in Man, Gas Vitale; and the fame Denomination Gas he gives to the fulphurous Steams, which occafion Damps : Add, that he calls the Air, GasVentofimij and Water, thcGas of Salts.
Some would fix his Meaning to the Spirit, or fubtle and moll volatile Part of a Body: And thus, Gas Cerevifid, is the fpirituous Steam, which flies off from Ale, while in working ; but this does not take in the whole Idea of Gas.
GASCOIN, orGAsiioiN, the hinder Thigh of a Horfe; commencing from the Stifle, and reaching to the Ply, or bending of the Ham.
GASCONADE, a boafting or vaunting of fomething very improbable. He pretended he had foughtfingly againft three Men 5 a downright Gafconade.
The Term has its Rife from theGaJcoms, or People in Gajcony, in France, who are diftinguifli'd for Bragging, and Rhodomontado.—
GAST ALDUS, or Castaldus, an Officer, antiently en- tertain'd in the Courts of divers Princes; wrote alfo Gaf- taldius, Gafialdio, Gafialdatus, Guaftaldus, &c.
The Gafialdus was what in Italy and Spain is now call'd Majordomo, ws. the Matter, or Steward of a Houfhold. The Gafialdus was a Coynes, or Count, which fhews his Of- fice to have been very confiderable. — ■
In the Laws of Italy we fometimes meet with Gafialdus * in the Senfe of a Courier; and fometimes as an Ecclefiaftical Officer, fo that it is fome where exprefs'd to be Simony, to buy the Function of Gafialdus.
Maori derives the Word from the Arabic Chafendar, Pur- veyor of a Houfe: Others, from the German Gaft, and halten, to retain Travellers.—
GASTEREPIPLOICA, in Anatomy, a Vein, which opens into the Trunk of the Vena Porta ; form'd of feveral Branches ; derived from the Stomach, and Epiploon ; whence its Name, yasn?, and Wtithcoy. See Vein.
GASTEROCNEMIUS, in Anatomy, a Name common to two Mufcles, conflicting the Sura, or Calf of the Leg 5 the one called Extemus, the other Interims.
G ast-erocukmiv s Extemus, call'd alfo SuralisMxternus^ and Gemellus, has two diftincr, flefhy Originations, from the fuperior, and hindermoft Part of each Tubercle of the lower Appendage of the Thigh-bone; which in their Def- cent are each dilated into two fmall flefhy Bellies, the in- nermoft of which is thickeft and Iargeft ; having each a different Series of flefhy Fibres, which at length uniting, make a broad, ftrong Tendon ; which narrowing itfelf, joins the great Tendon of the Soift*us, four Fingers breadth above its Infertion into the OsCalcis.
When this Mufcle a&s, the Foot is faid to be extended or pulled backwards; which Motion is very neceffary in walking, running, leaping, or ftandir.g on tip-toe, &c. whence it is, that thofe who walk much, or carry heavy Burdens ; and who wear low-heel'd Shoes, have thefe Muf- cles larger than others.
Gasterocnemius, or Suralis Internffl, call'd alfo So- l&US, from its Figure, refembling a Sole-Fifh, is placed un- der the external. Its external flefhy Part is cover'd with a tranfparent tendinous Expanflon, which makes it appear of a livid Colour.
It begins partly tendinous, chiefly from the hjndermoft Part of the upper Appendix of the Fibula, and back-part of the Tibia, that is, below the Infertion of the Subpopli- tKus ; and increafing to a large flefhy Belly, compofed of various Orders of flefhy Fibres, fome of them underneath aptly expreffing the Figure of the Top of a Feather, whofe Stamina, being here tendinous, join with the great Tendon, which is about a Finger's Breadth long; and inferted into the fuperior and hindermoft Part of the Os Calcis.
The Foot, together with the Toes, being, as it were, a Lever to the whole Body, ought therefore to be attended with Mufcles of great Strength to extend it ; which is the Reafon that thefe Mufcles fo much exceed their Antago- nifts.
GASTRIC, Gastricus, in Anatomy, is applied to di- vers Veins, on account of their proceeding from the Sto- mach, or Ventricle, which the Greeks call >*rnf. SeeSTO-
MACH.
The Gafiricus major, or greater Gafiric Vein is inferted into the Splenic Vein; and the minor, or leffer Gaftric > into the Trunk of the Vena Porta.
GASTRILOQUUS, or Gastrie.oq.ous, a Perfon who fpeaks inwardly, or within his Stomach; and whofe Voice feems to come a-far off; more ulually cal.ed Ventr'tlcqnus. See Ventriloq.uus.
The Word is form'd of the Greek yariifi Belly ; and the Latin loqtti, to fpeak.
GASTROLATER, a Glutton, or Belly-god : Cujus fDeits venter eft. See Idolater.
GASTROMANCY, or Gastromantia, a kind of Di- vination, practiced among the Antients, by means of Words, coming, or feeming to come, out of the Belly. See Divi- nation.
The Word is form'd of yt^t c l J " diVT ^ a -> compofed of >«r£f»' Belly, and fJutifi&t* Divination.
There is another kind of Divination, call'd by the fame Name, Gafiromancy, which is perform 'd by means of Glaffes, or other round, tranfparent VefTeis ; at the Bottom whereof certain Figures appear, by Magic Art. 'Tis thus called, by reafon the Figures appear as in the Belly of the VefTeis.—
GASTROTOMY, the Operation of cutting open the Belly; the fame with what is otherwife called the Cgfarian Seaion. See Caesarian Setlion.
GATE, a large Door, leading, or giving Entrance, into a City, Town, Caflle, Palace, or other confiderable Building. See Door.
I'beheSy in Egypt, was antiently known by the Appella- tion, With an hundred Gates. Fez, in Africa-, has 3 1 Gates. In Antient Rome there was a Triumphal Gate, 'Porta Tri- ttmphalis. See Triumph. In the Modern Rome there is the Jubilee Gate, which is only open'd the Year of a Grand Jubilee. See Jubilee.
The Gates of 'London are many of them converted into Goals, or Prifons ; as Ludgate, Ne-ivgate, &c. See Prison. The leffer, or By-gates, are call'd 'Pofierns. See Postern.
Gates thro' which Coaches, $$c. are to pafs, fhould not be lefs than feven Foot broad; nor more than twelve: The Height to be i£ the Breadth.
GAVEL, in Law, fignifies Tribute, Toll, Cuftom, yearly Rent, Payment, or Revenue; of which there are feveral Kinds, as Gavel-Corn, Gavel-Malt, Out-Gavel, Gavel-Fod- der, &c.
Gavel, is fometimes us'd for what we more ufually call the Gable. See Gable.
Gavel-kind, a Tenure, or Cuflom, whereby the Lands of the Father are equally divided, at his Death, among all his Sons; or the Land of the Brother among all the .Bre- thren, if he have no IfTue of his own. See Custom, and Tenure, Descent, fisfr.
tfeutonicis prifcis fatrios fuccedit in agros Mafoula ftirps omnis, ne foret itlla potens.
ThisCuflom, which antiently obtain'd throughout Eng- land, is ftill of Force in the greateft Part of Kent, Urchenfeild in Hereford/hire, and elfewhere ; tho' with fome Difference 1 But by the Stat. 34 and 35 Hen. 8. all Gavelkind Lands in Wales are made defcendible to the Heir, according to the Courfe of common Law. See Heir, &c.
Cambden in his Sritan. gives the Origin and Nature of Gavelkind thus : 'The People of Kent, upon the Norman
- Invafion, could not be reduced to furrender to the Con-
- queror, but on thefe Conditions, that they fhould retain
- their antient Country-cufloms without any Infringement
- or Diminution; and efpecially that call'd Gavelkind. The
- Lands held under this Denomination, defcend equally, and
- are divided, fhare and fliare alike, among all the Male
- Children; and in defect of thefe, among the Females. 1
He adds, 'That they are of Age, or qualified to take the ' Lands upon them, at Fifteen ; and may then give, vend, 1 or alienate the fame to any Perfon, without the Confent of ( any Lord: And Children here inherit their FathersLand, ' tho' convicted of Felony, Murther, &c. The Tenants in
- Gavelkind are to do Fealty ; and to be in the Tuition of
- the next a-kin, who is not next Heir after them, till 15
- Years of Age ; to pay Acknowledgment to the Lord for
1 the Lands', &c.
In an antient Book of Records in Chn ft -Church, Can- terbury, of the time of Henry VIIJ. our Saxon Ancestors arc faid to have either held their Lands by Writing, or with- out = The firft were called 2?ockla?2d ; whofe Owners were Men, whom we now call Freeholders : The fecond was called Foikland ; the Owners whereof were of fervile Condition, and poflefs'd ad voluntatem Domini. See Bockland, Free- hold, Folkland, &c.
Now, the Inheritance, or Freehold, did not, in thofe Days, defcend to the eldefl Son, but to all alike ; which in Saxon was called Lan&e Scypcan, and io Kent, "To fhift Land ; whence came the Cuitom Gavelkind. And the Rea- fon why it was retained in Kent more than other Places, was that the Kentijhmen were not conquer'd by the Normans : For, fay our Hiftorians, Stigand, the Arch-Biihop of Can- terbury -j
