GRASSMAN, HER3IANN GUNTHER, b. Prussia, 1800; a mathematician, son of a professor of mathematics in the Stettin gymnasium, to whose chair he succeeded. In 1844 lie published the first part of an important mathematical work in which lie explained certain discoveries in the science. He has published several other works, the leading purpose of which is to establish a new system of mathematical processes cover ing wider ground and tending to supersede the plans and theories of Descartes.
(Crambus), a genus of small moths, allied to the clothes-moths, of which the species are numerous, inhabiting pastures, where they are often seen to rise in great numbers when disturbed, and soon to settle again on the blades of grass. Their form, when their wings are closed, is long and narrow, pointed at the head, abruptly cut off at the opposite end. They are often brown and white, sometimes silvery and golden.
a fragrant volatile oil obtained from the leaves and stems of certain grasses of the genus andropogon (see LEMON GRAss), natives of India. The kind known as of Nemaur is produced at the foot of the Vindhya hills, and is exported from Bombay. It has been ascribed to the grass called vittievayr or cuscus (A. muricatus);
to another species, which Dr. Hoyle supposes to be the calamus aromatieus of the ancients; and to a third, also like these, a very fragrant grass (A. itcoranevsa). It is not improbable that it may be obtained from more than one species. It is obtained by dis tillation; the grass, being cut when it begins to flower, is bound in small bundles, which are thrown into a boiler with water, and the oil, as it distils over, is received in cold water, from which it is afterwards skimmed. It is of a light straw color, has a peculiar rich, agreeable odor, and is very pungent and stimulating. It is employed iti medicine, as a stimulant and diaphoretic, but more frequently as a liniment in chronic rhematism. Its chief use, however, is in perfumery. It is sometimes called oil, but is commonly called oil of geranium by perfumers, and by druggists oil of lar to this, but different, and obtained from other species of the same genus, is the oil known as oil of lemon grass.