Generosity

[Fr. générosité; Lat. gene rosit as.] Quality of being generous; noblene of soul; magnanimity; a disposition to give liberally or to bestow favors. -Munificence; open-handedne ; bounty; liberality in bestowing; as, an act of generosity. Generos'tee Creek, in S. Carolina, enters the SaGen'erous, a. [Fr. généreux; Lat. generosus-genus, race, descent, high or noble birth.] Noble; honorable; magnanimous; openhearted. vannah River in Anderson district. "Such was Roscommon, not more learn'd than good, With manners gen'rous as his noble blood."-Pope. -Liberal; bountiful; munificent; open-handed; boun- teous; free to give; beneficent; as, a generous master. -Strong; enlivening; full of vigor and spirit; exciting and exhilarating the body; as, generous wine. -Abundant; plenteous; characterized by generosity; as, he keeps a generous table. -Courageous; full of life and mettle; sprightly. "His op'ning hounds... a generous pack."-Add is on. Gen'erously, adv . Honorably; nobly; magnanimously; liberally; munificently. Gen'erousne , n. Quality of being generous; no blene of mind; magnanimity. "The overflowing generousne of the divine nature."-Collier. -Generosity; open-handedne ; munificence; liberality; bountifulne . (Physiol.) See PHYSIOLOGY and REPRODUCTION. Alternation of generation. (Physiol.) A term applied by Prof. Steen str up to a series of phenomena connected with the mode of reproduction of many of the lower animals. In their development from the ovum to the adult state, a large number of these beings not only pa through various stages, as exemplified in the insect tribe, but also po e the power of multiplying themselves at certain periods of their growth. The animals which exhibit this peculiarity have been called nurses , and the phenomenon has been particularly observed in the Acephalæ , Entozoa , Polypi fer a, Salpæ , and Vorticellæ. In the translation of Prof. Steen str up's work by the Ray Society, the alternation of generations is fully described. The mode of development by means of "nurses," or intermediate generations, is shown to be an ordinary phenomenon in nature. "The circumstance," he observes, "of an animal giving birth to a progeny permanently di imilar to its parent, but which itself produces a new generation, which either itself or in its offspring returns to the form of the parent animal, is a phenomenon not confined to a single cla or series of animals; the vertebrate cla is the only one in which it has not yet been observed. It would consequently appear that there is something intrinsic in this mode of development, and that it occurs, as it were, with a certain nece ity; on which account it will undoubtedly soon be recognized to a greater extent and more generally. If the whole system of development by means of "nursing" generations be collected and regarded in one view, it appears, as the e ential feature -A post-office of Potter co. in this course of development, that the species is not fully represented in the solitary, full-grown, fertile individuals of both sexes, nor in their development; but that to complete their representation, supplementary individuals, as it were, of one or of several precedent generations are nece ary. The greatest incompletene and the highest degree of mutual dependence is to be observed in the Campanular iæ and similar polypes, in which the gene ratio us representing the unity of the species are very unlike each other, and in which all the individuals are fused into an outward unity, or into a set of polypes.... They exist organically connected with each other, and are normally free only in their first generation, and, indeed, only in their earliest stage of development, and only for a short time; since the free swimming ciliated embryo swims about in the water at most for some hours, in order to find a suitable place for the foundation of a new polype-stem. In the Corynæ, claviform polypes, the organic connection between the individuals and generations is rather more lax; the perfect gemmiparous or ovigerous individuals are usually quite free, often even at an early age; so that they do not attain their full development until after their separation from the "nursing" generations. In the Medu e and Scalpæ , the generations which are connected together into one whole become more like each other." Among the Entozoa , similar attempts at becoming free and accomplishing a perfect growth are also described. The development of animals which do not belong to the water, but to the air, also presents similar phenomena, but in a still higher and more free stage. The propagation of the Aphides through a series of generations has been long known. In the spring, a generation is produced from the ova, which grows and is metamorphosed, and, without a previous fertilization, gives birth to a new generation, and this again to a third; and so on for ten or twelve weeks; so that in certain species which have been observed nine such changes have been noted. At last there occurs a generation consisting of males and females, the former of which, after their metamorphosis, are usually winged; fertilization and the deposition of eggs take place, and the long series of generations recommences in the next year and in the same order. Some advantage in food getting in the partly developed state may cause this phenomenon. See ALTERNATION OF GENERATION.