GYMNOSPERMS
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GYPSIES
by the Germans in 1774 and 1784, and they have been in great use ever since. Gymnastics may be divided into two classes, one with apparatus and the other without apparatus. The latter has been especially studied in Sweden, where it consists of various movements of the arms, trunk and legs, alone or together. The next in simplicity is exercise with movable apparatus, such as dumb-bells and Indian clubs. Then come the horizontal bar, the parallel bars, the rings, trapeze-bar, climbing-poles and ropes and weights and pulleys. The value of gymnastic exercise cannot be computed, inasmuch as it strengthens and builds up every part of the frame. Beginners, however, should be careful to take their training under the guidance of a proper instructor.
Gym' nosperms, one of the two great divisions of seed-plants (Spermatophytes). The most familiar gymnosperms in temperate regions are the pines, spruces, cedars etc., plants which are commonly called evergreens. About 400 species of gymnosperms exist to-day, and are a remnant of a former, much larger display. The common pine may be taken as a type, and its principal structures will serve to represent those of the whole group. The plant-body consists of a central shaft which extends to the very top, with lateral branches spreading horizontally in diminishing length to the top, forming a conical outline. This body is clothed rather densely, particularly at the extremities of the branches, with characteristic needle-leaves. These leaves are poorly adapted for leaf-work, but are well adapted for enduring hard conditions. The stamens and carpels are borne in separate clusters, which are known as cones or strobili. In the ordinary forms the staminate and carpellate cones are on the same tree. The staminate cones are very small and attract little or no attention. The carpellate or pistillate cones, on the contrary, become very large and conspicuous, developing in size and changing in structure as the seed matures, until sometimes they become very large, the scales being hard, and even bony. If one of the carpellate cones be examined, it will be found that near the base of each of the hard scales there is a pair of seeds. It is the fact that these seeds are exposed, rather than inclosed, which gives the name gymnosperm to the group, meaning naked seeds, as opposed to angiosperms, which means seeds inclosed. Among gymnosperms the pollen is transported from the stamens to the ovule-bearing cones by means of the wind. This habit of wind-pollination demands the development of pollen in great quantity and of a very dry, powdery character. In the true pines each pollen-grain has two wings to aid in this wind-pollination. So abundant is this pollen that sometimes
it descends in showers, covering the surface of the ground over large areas with a deposit of yellowish material which is often taken for a " shower of sulphur" by the uninitiated, and probably is referred to by local newspapers under that head. If a wind, during the pollinating season, happens to be very strong, these showers of pollen may descend in regions far distant from the pine-forest. Four living groups of gymnosperms are recognized: (i) Conifers, represented by the ordinary pines, spruces, hemlocks etc. of temperate regions; (2) Cycads, fern-like gymnosperms, restricted entirely to the tropics; (3) Ginkgo, the ordinary maiden-hair tree, chiefly existing at the present time in cultivation; and (4) Gne-tums, a curious group of widely-scattered plants growing in the desert? and the tropics. In addition to these four living groups no less than two extinct ones have been made out from their fossil forms, one of the largest groups existing during the coal measures and having become extinct at that time. See CONIFER, CYCAD and GINKGO. JOHN M. COULTER.
Gypsies (fip'slz), are a wandering race of people found all over the world, being peculiar alike in their looks, language and manner of living. How they got the name of gypsy or where they originally came from is not known. That they are from the east is generally admitted; but as to the probable antiquity of the Rdmani, as they, call themselves, the ablest scholars are divided. As a race they are good-looking, with a tawny, olive skin; a dark, lustrous eye; very white teeth; black or dark-brown hair, rather coarse and frizzled; a graceful form; and finely-made hands and feet. These bodily peculiarities are as marked as are those of the Jewish people. In character, also, they seem to stand apart and alone. The better kind are quick-witted, courteous and trustworthy —when trusted; lavishly generous with one hand, while they grasp a bargain with the other. Having no ambition and leading a kind of cuckoo-like life, their aim seems to be to make the best of this life, as they find it, thinking little and caring less for the future. Their piety, when they assume any, is largely cant, and the faults of these ' spoiled children of nature" are very similar to those of our native American Indian — boastful, crafty, superstitious, thriftless and indolent — with a passionate streak added. They break most of the ten commandments — but lightly — great crimes being rare among them. Their specialties of horse-dealing and fortune-telling favor easy ideas of right and wrong; while their views on what is mine or thine are decidedly loose. They excel as tinkers and blacksmiths. Their language is a bond of universal brotherhood, for gypsies everywhere speak the same R6mani or gypsy-tongue.
