Page:EB1911 - Volume 12.djvu/789

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764
GYMNOSTOMACEAE—GYNAECOLOGY
  


Ges. Wiss. (1860); Treub, “Recherches sur les Cycadées,” Ann. Bot. Jard. Buitenzorg, ii. (1884); Solms-Laubach, “Die Sprossfolge der Stangeria, &c.,” Bot. Zeit. xlviii. (1896); Worsdell, “Anatomy of Macrozamia,” Ann. Bot. x. (1896) (also papers by the same author, Ann. Bot., 1898, Trans. Linn. Soc. v., 1900); Scott, “The Anatomical Characters presented by the Peduncle of Cycadaceae,” Ann. Bot. xi. (1897); Lang, “Studies in the Development and Morphology of Cycadean Sporangia, No. I.,” Ann. Bot. xi. (1897); No. II., Ann. Bot. xiv. (1900); Webber, “Development of the Antherozoids of Zamia,” Bot. Gaz. (1897); Ikeno, “Untersuchungen über die Entwickelung, &c., bei Cycas revoluta,” Journ. Coll. Sci. Japan, xii. (1898); Wieland, “American Fossil Cycads,” Carnegie Institution Publication (1906); Stopes, “Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Fortpflanzungsorgane der Cycadeen,” Flora (1904); Caldwell, “Microcycas Calocoma,” Bot. Gaz. xliv., 1907 (also papers on this and other Cycads in the Bot. Gaz., 1907–1909); Matte, Recherches sur l’appareil libéro-ligneux des Cycadacées (Caen, 1904). Ginkgoales: Hirase, “Études sur la fécondation, &c., de Ginkgo biloba,” Journ. Coll. Sci. Japan, xii. (1898); Seward and Gowan, “Ginkgo biloba,” Ann. Bot. xiv. (1900) (with bibliography); Ikeno, “Contribution à l’étude de la fécondation chez le Ginkgo biloba,” Ann. Sci. Nat. xiii. (1901); Sprecher, Le Ginkgo biloba (Geneva, 1907). Coniferales: “Report of the Conifer Conference” (1891) Journ. R. Hort. Soc. xiv. (1892); Beissner, Handbuch der Nadelholzkunde (Berlin, 1891); Masters, “Comparative Morphology of the Coniferae,” Journ. Linn. Soc. xxvii. (1891); ibid. (1896), &c.; Penhallow, “The Generic Characters of the North American Taxaceae and Coniferae,” Proc. and Trans. R. Soc. Canada, ii. (1896); Blackman, “Fertilization in Pinus sylvestris,” Phil. Trans. (1898) (with bibliography); Worsdell, “Structure of the Female Flowers in Conifers,” Ann. Bot. xiv. (1900) (with bibliography); ibid. (1899); Veitch, Manual of the Coniferae (London, 1900); Penhallow, “Anatomy of North American Coniferales,” American Naturalist (1904); Engler and Pilger, Das Pflanzenreich, Taxaceae (1903); Seward and Ford, “The Araucarieae, recent and extinct,” Phil. Trans. R. Soc. (1906) (with bibliography); Lawson, “Sequoia sempervirens,” Annals of Botany (1904); Robertson, “Torreya Californica,” New Phytologist (1904); Coker, “Gametophyte and Embryo of Taxodium,” Bot. Gazette (1903); E. C. Jeffrey, “The Comparative Anatomy and Phylogeny of the Coniferales, part i. The Genus Sequoia,” Mem. Boston Nat. Hist. Soc. v. No. 10 (1903); Gothan, “Zur Anatomie lebender und fossiler Gymnospermen-Hölzer,” K. Preuss. Geol. Landes. (Berlin, 1905) (for more recent papers, see Ann. Bot., New Phytologist, and Bot. Gazette, 1906–1909). Gnetales: Hooker, “On Welwitschia mirabilis.” Trans. Linn. Soc. xxiv. (1864); Bower, “Germination, &c., in Gnetum,” Journ. Mic. Sci. xxii. (1882); ibid. (1881); Jaccard, “Recherches embryologiques sur l’Ephedra helvetica,” Diss. Inaug. Lausanne (1894); Karsten, “Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Gattung Gnetum,” Cohn’s Beiträge, vi. (1893); Lotsy, “Contributions to the Life-History of the genus Gnetum,” Ann. Bot. Jard. Buitenzorg, xvi. (1899); Land, “Ephedra trifurca,” Bot. Gazette (1904); Pearson, “Some observations on Welwitschia mirabilis,” Phil. Trans. R. Soc. (1906); Pearson, “Further Observations on Welwitschia,” Phil. Trans. R. Soc. vol. 200 (1909).  (A. C. Se.) 

GYMNOSTOMACEAE, an order of Ciliate Infusoria (q.v.), characterized by a closed mouth, which only opens to swallow food actively, and body cilia forming a general or partial investment (rarely represented by a girdle of membranellae), but not differentiated in different regions. With the Aspirotrochaceae (q.v.) it formed the Holotricha of Stein.

GYMPIE, a mining town of March county, Queensland, Australia, 107 m. N. of Brisbane, and 61 m. S. of Maryborough by rail. Pop. (1901) 11,959. Numerous gold mines are worked in the district, which also abounds in copper, silver, antimony, cinnabar, bismuth and nickel. Extensive undeveloped coal-beds lie 40 m. N. at Miva. Gympie became a municipality in 1880.

GYNAECEUM (Gr. γυναικεῖον, from γυνή, woman), that part in a Greek house which was specially reserved for the women, in contradistinction to the “andron,” the men’s quarters; in the larger houses there was an open court with peristyles round, and as a rule all the rooms were on the same level; in smaller houses the servants were placed in an upper storey, and this seems to have been the case to a certain extent in the Homeric house of the Odyssey. “Gynaeconitis” is the term given by Procopius to the space reserved for women in the Eastern Church, and this separation of the sexes was maintained in the early Christian churches where there were separate entrances and accommodation for the men and women, the latter being placed in the triforium gallery, or, in its absence, either on one side of the church, the men being on the other, or occasionally in the aisles, the nave being occupied by the men.

GYNAECOLOGY (from Gr. γυνή, γυναικός, a woman, and λόγος, discourse), the name given to that branch of medicine which concerns the pathology and treatment of affections peculiar to the female sex.

Gynaecology may be said to be one of the most ancient branches of medicine. The papyrus of Ebers, which is one of the oldest known works on medicine and dates from 1550 B.C., contains references to diseases of women, and it is recorded that specialism in this branch was known amongst Egyptian medical practitioners. The Vedas contain a list of therapeutic agents used in the treatment of gynaecological diseases. The treatises on gynaecology formerly attributed to Hippocrates (460 B.C.) are now said to be spurious, but the wording of the famous oath shows that he was at least familiar with the use of gynaecological instruments. Diocles Carystius, of the Alexandrian school (4th century B.C.), practised this branch, and Praxagoras of Cos, who lived shortly after, opened the abdomen by laparotomy. While the Alexandrine school represented Greek medicine, Greeks began to practise in Rome, and in the first years of the Christian era gynaecologists were much in demand (Häser). A speculum for gynaecological purposes has been found in the ruins of Pompeii, and votive offerings of anatomical parts found in the temples show that various gynaecological malformations were known to the ancients. Writers who have treated of this branch are Celsus (50 B.C.A.D. 7) and Soranus of Ephesus (A.D. 98–138), who refers in his works to the fact that the Roman midwives frequently called to their aid practitioners who made a special study of diseases of women. These midwives attended the simpler gynaecological ailments. This was no innovation, as in Athens, as mentioned by Hyginus, we find one Agnodice, a midwife, disguising herself in man’s attire so that she might attend lectures on medicine and diseases of women. After instruction she practised as a gynaecologist. This being contrary to Athenian law she was prosecuted, but was saved by the wives of some of the chief men testifying on her behalf. Besides Agnodice we have Sotira, who wrote a work on menstruation which is preserved in the library at Florence, while Aspasia is mentioned by Aetius as the author of several chapters of his work. It is evident that during the Roman period much of the gynaecological work was in the hands of women. Martial alludes to the “feminae medicae” in his epigram on Leda. These women must not be confounded with the midwives who on monuments are always described as “obstetrices.” Galen devotes the sixth chapter of his work De locis affectis to gynaecological ailments. During the Byzantine period may be mentioned the work of Oribasius (A.D. 325) and Moschion (2nd century A.D.) who wrote a book in Latin for the use of matrons and midwives ignorant of Greek.

In modern times James Parsons (1705–1770) published his Elenchus gynaicopathologicus et obstetricarius, and in 1755 Charles Perry published his Mechanical account and explication of the hysterical passion and of all other nervous disorders incident to the sex, with an appendix on cancers. In the early part of the 19th century fresh interest in diseases of women awakened. Joseph Récamier (1774–1852) by his writings and teachings advocated the use of the speculum and sound. This was followed in 1840 by the writings of Simpson in England and Huguier in France. In 1845 John Hughes Bennett published his great work on inflammation of the uterus, and in 1850 Tilt published his book on ovarian inflammation. The credit of being the first to perform the operation of ovariotomy is now credited to McDowell of Kentucky in 1809, and to Robert Lawson Tait (1845–1899) in 1883 the first operation for ruptured ectopic gestation.

Menstruation.—Normal menstruation comprises the escape of from 4 to 6 oz. of blood together with mucus from the uterus at intervals of twenty-eight days (more or less). The flow begins at the age of puberty, the average age of which in England is between fourteen and sixteen years. It ceases between forty-five and fifty years of age, and this is called the menopause or climacteric period, commonly spoken of as “the change of life.” Both the age of puberty and that of the menopause may supervene earlier or later according to local conditions. At both times the menstrual flow may be replaced by haemorrhage from distant organs (epistaxis, haematemesis, haemoptysis); this is called vicarious menstruation. Menstruation is usually but not necessarily coincident with ovulation. The usual