Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/324

 310 GUILLEMOT white ; bill black, and feet red ; in winter and in the young plumage, the under parts, neck, and rump are white, the head above and back dark brown. This species is found breeding, about June, from the arctic regions to the bay of Fundy ; according to Audubon, it lays three eggs, in a nest composed of pebbles ; the eggs are about 2 by H in., of an earthy white color, blotched with dark purplish black toward the larger end; they are delicate and nutritious articles of food, and even the black and tough flesh has proved palatable to many an arctic voyager. There is a variety on the N. W. coast (U. columba, Pall.), resembling the preceding, except that the white of the wing is divided by a diagonal band of brownish black. The foolish guillemot (U. troile, Linn. ; U. lomvia, Brun.) is about 17 in. long, and 30 in extent of wings; the general color above is grayish black, tinged with dark brown on the sides of the head and neck ; a bar on the wings, and a line encircling and behind the eye, white ; un- der parts white ; feet greenish black. It is occasionally found as far south as New York, but breeds in numbers on the coast of Labra- dor ; the female lays a single egg of large size, white with dark blotches, on the bare rock, and, like the other species, plucks feathers from the abdomen over a space large enough to cover the egg ; both sexes assist in incubation. The plumage is exceedingly dense, and admirably adapted for a creature exposed to severe cold ; the flesh is tough, and eaten only by hungry seamen ; the eggs are highly esteemed as food. They are rapid fliers, and such bold swimmers and divers as to defy the highest waves. The thick-billed guillemot (U. arra, Pall.) is proba- bly a mere variety of the last, differing only in its shorter and wider bill. The guillemots al- low man to invade their retreats and knock them down with clubs ; this apparent apathy is owing to the structure of the bird, which is ill calculated for progression on land, but ad- mirably adapted for a life on the water. The above described species are found also on the northern shores of Europe. The genus fira- chyrhampJius includes the smaller guillemots, with a larger head, shorter bill densely covered with feathers at the base, curved upper mandi- ble, and in other respects as in the preceding genus. The marbled guillemot (B. marmoratus, Gmel.) is about 10 in. long, brownish black above, tinged with ashy on the back, with two white spots on each side of the back ; ring round hind neck, and under parts, white, bill black, and feet yellow; the young have the upper feathers with reddish edges, and the under parts spotted and marbled with brownish black and white. Several others inhabit the North Pa- cific, and are most abundant about the N. W. coast of America. The name of guillemot is given to the horn-billed auk (cerorhina mono- cerata, Pall.) of N. W. America. The habits of all the guillemots are the same ; their num- bers, beauty, activity, and useful properties have been the admiration of all arctic voyagers, GUILLOTINE many of whom have been saved from starva- tion by their eggs and flesh. GUILLIM, John, an English writer on herald- ry, born in Herefordshire about 1565, died in London, May 7, 1621. He was educated at Oxford, subsequently became a member of the society of the college of arms in London, and in 1617 was appointed rouge-croix pursui- vant of arms. His reputation rests upon the work entitled " The Display of Heraldry," first published in 1610, which has passed through many editions ; that of 1724, containing in addition "A Treatise of Honor, Civil and Military, by Captain John Logan," is con- ' sidered the best. The book was published in Guillim's name, but is said to have been writ- ten by John Barkham. GU1LLOTIN, Joseph Ignace, a French physician, born in Saintes, May 28, 1738, died in Paris, May 26, 1814. He studied under Antoine Petit, graduated as doctor in medicine in 1770 at Rheims, and became professor of anatomy, pathology, and physiology in Paris. He was one of the commissioners appointed to investi- gate the experiments of Mesmer in animal mag- netism, and joined with Lavoisier, Bailly, and Franklin in their celebrated report upon that subject. In 1788 he increased his popularity by a pamphlet in favor of giving the tiers etat a representation equal to that of the two other orders, and was elected in 1789 to the constit- uent assembly. In that body he brought for- ward various sanitary measures. His name, however, is principally associated with the proposition which he made that decapitation, a mode of punishment previously reserved for nobles and regarded as less ignominious than death by hanging, should be adopted for crim- inals of all classes. He also proposed that the decapitation should be effected by machinery instead of by the axe or the sword, in order that the suffering might be less. In 1791 Guillotin's motion was renewed in a somewhat altered form by Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau ; and on March 20, 1792, the legislative assem- bly, on a report presented by Dr. Antoine Louis, the perpetual secretary of the academy of surgery, adopted a resolution ordering a machine for decapitation described by the same to be adopted. This machine, in the in- vention and construction of which Guillotin had no share whatever, received at first the name of louison or louisette, which was soon superseded by that of guillotine, first used in a satirical song published in the royalist news- paper Les actes des apotres. Guillotin was im- prisoned during the reign of terror, and after- ward resumed medical practice. GUILLOTINE, an instrument for inflicting capital punishment by decapitation. It con- sists of an oblique-edged knife, heavily weight- ed, sliding easily between two upright grooved posts, and descending on a block where the head of the sufferer rests. This machine, which was brought into use in the early period of the French revolution, is not altogether a