GEIJLINCX, ARNOLD, 1625-1669, a philosopher, b. at Antwerp. He studied at the university of Louvain, obtained there a doctor's degree, and afterwards remained 12 years as a successful lecturer and teacher of the classics and the Cartesian philosophy. For some reason, not certainly known but supposed to have had connection with his religious views, he was compelled to leave Louvain and went to Leyden, where he became a Protestant, and was rescued from starvation by the generosity of a friend, who also obtained for him a lectureship in the university. Entering into this work with great zeal, he continued in it until his death. He was distinguished among the followers of Des-cartes, and his writings contain germs of thought that were afterwards developed by Spinoza and Malebranehe. He gave special attention to the doctrine of the relation between the soul and body. Extension and thought, the essences of corporeal and spir itual states, are, he affirmed, distinct, and cannot act upon one another. "I cannot be the author of any state of which I am unconscious, for my very nature is conscious ness; but I am not conscious of the mechanism by which bodily motion is produced, hence I am not the author of bodily motion. Body and mind are like two clocks which act together, because at each instant they are adjusted by God. A physical occurrence is but the occasion on which God excites in me a corresponding mental state." He thus originated the theory of occasional causes, But this theory compelled a further advance. "God, who is the cause of the union of body and mind, is the sole cause in the universe. No fact contains in itself the ground of any other. The existence of the facts is due to God, their sequence and co-existence are also due to him. He is the ground of all that is. Apart from God the finite being has no reality." In this he led the way for Spinoza. Geulincx did not handle directly the difficult problem concern ing the mode by which extended reality is perceived; yet he shows his opinion that men do not perceive extended reality, but have the idea of it from God. His most
important works are on logic, ethics, and metaphysics. They were not published until after his death.
GE"Int, a genus of plants of the natural order rosacece, sub-order potentillece. nearly allied to potentieta, but distinguished by the hardened, hooked styles which 'crown the carpels, so that the fruit becomes a bur. The carpels are dry. Two species are com mon natives of Britain, G. urbanum, called COMMON AVENS, or HERB BENNETT, a her baceous plant, about 1 to 2 ft. high, and G. rivale, called WATER AVENS, about 1 foot high, both of which have the radical leaves interruptedly pinnate and lyrate, and the cauline leaves ternate, but G. urbanum has erect yellow flowers, and G. sirale has nod ditIk flowers of a brownish hue. The former grows in hedges and thickets, the latter in wet meadows and woods, and sometimes even in very alpine situations. Both are aro matic, tonic, and astringent, and are employed to restrain mucous discharges, and in cases of dysentery and intermittent fever. The root of G. rivale is also used in diseases of the bladder. The root of G. urbanum, when fresh, has a clove-like flavor, which it communicates to ale; and for this purpose it is gathered in spring before the stem grows up. G. Canadense, the CHOCOLATE ROOT or BLOOD ROOT Of North America, has some reputation as a mild tonic. It is much employed in the United States in diseases of the bladder. It much resembles the British species in its leaves, and has erect flowers like G. urbanum, A number of other species are known, natives of the temperate and colder regions both of the northern and southern hemispheres.