The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 213

GAYA (80), chief town of a district of the same name in Bengal, on the Phalgu, 57 m. S. of Patna; it is a great centre of pilgrimage for Hindus, and has a.s.sociations with Buddha; 100,000 pilgrims visit it annually.

GAY-LUSSAC, LOUIS JOSEPH, French chemist and physicist, born at St.

Leonard, Haute-Vienne; at the Polytechnic School, Paris, his abilities attracted the attention of BERTHOLLET (q. v.), who appointed him his a.s.sistant in the government chemical works at Arcueil; here he a.s.siduously employed himself in chemical and physical research, in connection with which he made two balloon ascents; in 1809 he became professor of Chemistry at the Paris Polytechnic School; in 1832 was elected to a similar chair at the Jardin des Plantes; seven years later was created a peer of France, while in 1829 he became chief a.s.sayer to the Mint; his name is a.s.sociated with many notable discoveries in chemistry and physics, e. g. the law of volumes, isolation of cyanogen, &c. (1778-1850).

GAZA, a Philistine town, the gates of which Samson carried off by night; situated on a mound at the edge of the desert, 5 m. from the sea, a considerable place to this day.

GAZETTE THE, an official newspaper in which government and legal notices are published, issued on Tuesdays and Fridays; originally a Venetian newspaper, the first of the kind so called as issued for a farthing.

GEBIR or GEBER, the name under which several works on alchemy and chemistry were written by Jabir ihn Haijan, an Arabic alchemist of the 8th century; his birthplace is unknown, but he is said to have lived at Damascus and Kufa.

GED, WILLIAM, the inventor of stereotyping, born in Edinburgh, where he carried on business as a goldsmith; he endeavoured to push his new process of printing in London by joining in partners.h.i.+p with a capitalist, but, disappointed in his workmen and his partner, he returned despondent to Edinburgh; an edition of Sall.u.s.t and two prayer-books (for Cambridge) were stereotyped by him (1699-1749).

GEDDES, ALEXANDER, biblical scholar, born at Arradowl, Banffs.h.i.+re; was trained for the Catholic Church, and after prosecuting his studies at Paris was appointed to the charge of a Catholic congregation at Auchinhalrig; ten years later he was deposed for heresy, and removing to London took to literary work; his most notable performance is his unfinished translation of the Scriptures, and the notes appended, in which he reveals a very p.r.o.nounced rationalistic conception of holy writ; this work, which antic.i.p.ated the views of such men as Eichhorn and Paulus, lost him his status as a priest, although to the end he professed a sincere belief in Christianity; he was the author of volumes of poems, &c. (1737-1802).

GEDDES, JENNY, an Edinburgh worthy who on 23rd July 1637 immortalised herself by throwing her stool at the head of Laud's bishop as he proceeded from the desk of St. Giles's in the city to read the _Collect_ for the day, exclaiming as she did so, "Deil _colic_ the wame o' thee, fause loon, would you say _Ma.s.s_ at my lug," which was followed by great uproar, and a shout, "A Pape, a Pape; stane him"; "a daring feat, and a great," thinks Carlyle, "the first act of an audacity which ended with the beheading of the king."

GEEFS, GUILLAUME, Belgian sculptor, born at Antwerp; executed a colossal work at Brussels, "Victims of the Revolution," and numerous statues and busts as well as imaginative productions; had two brothers distinguished also as sculptors (1806-1860).

GEELONG (24), a prettily laid out city of Victoria, on Corio Bay, 45 m. SW. of Melbourne. The gold discoveries of 1851 gave a stimulus to the town, which is now a busy centre of the wool trade, and has tanneries and paper works, &c. The harbourage is excellent, and in summer the town is a favourite resort as a watering-place.

GEFLE (25), a seaport, and the third commercial town in Sweden; capital of the _lan_ of Gefleborg; is situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Bothnia, midway between Fahlun and Upsala; has an interesting old castle, a school of navigation, and, since a destructive fire in 1869, has been largely rebuilt.

GEHENNA, the valley of Hinnom, on the S. of Jerusalem, with TOPHET (q. v.) at its eastern end; became the symbol of h.e.l.l from the fires kept burning in it night and day to consume the poisonous gases of the offal acc.u.mulated in it.

GEHENNA BAILIFFS, ministers of h.e.l.l's justice, whose function is to see to and enforce the rights of h.e.l.l.

GEIBEL, EMANUEL VON, a celebrated German poet, born at Lubeck; was professor of aesthetics at Munich; the tender, sentimental pa.s.sion that breathed in his poetry procured for him a wide-spread popularity, especially among women (1815-1884).

GEIGER, ABRAHAM, an eminent Hebrew scholar and Rabbi, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and editor of the _Zeitschrift fur judische Theologie_; strove hard to break down the barrier of Jewish exclusiveness (1810-1874).

GEIJER, ERIK GUSTAV, great Swedish historian, born in Vermland; held a post in the Record Office, Stockholm; was a poet as well as a historian, his princ.i.p.al work being "History of the Swedish People"

(1783-1847).

GEIKIE, SIR ARCHIBALD, geologist, born at Edinburgh; at the age of 20 he joined the Geological Survey of Scotland, and in 1867 became director; in 1870 he became Murchison professor of Geology at Edinburgh, and in 1881 was appointed chief director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain; in 1801 he was knighted, and from 1892 to 1893 was President of the British a.s.sociation; he is the author of various works on geology, written with great lucidity, as well as essays much appreciated; _b_. 1835.

GEIKIE, JAMES, geologist, brother of the preceding, born at Edinburgh; in 1882, after serving 21 years in the Geological Survey of Scotland, he succeeded his brother in the chair of Geology at Edinburgh; his princ.i.p.al work as a scientist is "The Great Ice Age"; his literary sympathies appear in his admirable volume of translations of, "Songs and Lyrics of Heine"; _b_. 1839.

GELER VON KAISERBERG, JOHANN, a famous German pulpit orator, born at Schaffhausen; Strasburg was the princ.i.p.al scene of his labours; his writings, though numerous, are rare, among them the "Narrenschiff, or s.h.i.+p of Fools" (1453-1510).

GELASIUS I., ST., Pope from 492 to 496; a vigorous man and strong a.s.sertor of the supremacy of the chair of St. Peter; G. II., also Pope from 1118 to 1119.

GELL, SIR WILLIAM, archaeologist, born at Hopton, Derbys.h.i.+re; after graduating at Cambridge was elected to a Fellows.h.i.+p at Emmanuel College; his pa.s.sion for cla.s.sical antiquities led him latterly to settle in Italy, which bore fruit in various valuable works on the topography and antiquities of Troy, Pompeii, Rome, Attica, &c.; he had for some time previously been chamberlain to Queen Caroline, and appeared as a witness at her trial (1777-1836).

GELLERT or KILLHART, a famous dog which figures in Welsh tradition of the 13th century, and whose devotion and sad death are celebrated in a fine ballad written by the Hon. William Robert Spencer (1796-1834). The story is as follows: Prince Llewellyn on returning one day from the chase discovered the cradle of his child overturned and blood-stains on the floor. Immediately concluding that Gellert, whom he had left in charge of the child, had been the culprit, he plunged his sword into the breast of the dog and laid it dead. Too late he found his child safe hidden in the blankets, and by its side the dead body of an enormous wolf. Gellert's tomb is still pointed out in the village of Beddgelert on the S. of Snowdon. A story similar even to details is current in the traditionary lore of many other lands.

GELLERT, CHRISTIAN, a German poet, fabulist, and moralist, born in Saxony; professor of Philosophy at Leipzig; distinguished for the influence of his character and writings on the literature of the period in Germany, in the effect of it culminating in the literature of Schiller and Goethe; Frederick the Great, who had an interview with him, p.r.o.nounced him the most rational of German professors (1715-1769).

GELLUS, AULUS, a Latin grammarian, born at Rome; author of "Noctes Atticae," a miscellany professing to have been composed in a country house near Athens during winter nights, and ranging confusedly over topics of all kinds, interesting as abounding in extracts from ancient writings no longer extant.

GELON, tyrant of Syracuse from 484 to 478 B.C.; rose from the ranks, gained a victory in 480 B.C. on the day of the battle of Salamis over a large host of Carthaginians who had invaded Sicily; _d_.

478 B.C., leaving behind him an honoured memory.

GEMARA, the second part of the Talmud, being a body of notes, comments, &c. on the Mishna or text.

GEMINI, the Twins, two stars in the southern hemisphere named Castor and Pollux; also the name of a sign of the zodiac.

GENDARMES (i. e. men-at-arms), a military police in France organised since the Revolution, and charged with maintaining the public safety. The gendarmerie is considered a part of the regular army, and is divided into legions and companies; but the pay is better than that of an ordinary soldier. In the 14th and 15th centuries the name was applied to the heavy French cavalry, and later to the royal bodyguard of the Bourbons.

GENESIS, the first book in the Bible, so called in the Septuagint, as containing an account of the origin of the world, of the human family, and of the Jewish race; a book of the oldest date possessing any human interest.

GENEVA: 1. The smallest canton (106) of Switzerland, situated at the western extremity of the lake of the name; the surface is hilly, but not mountainous, and is watered by the Rhone and Arve; the soil is unfertile, but the patient industry of the inhabitants has made it fruitful; the cultivation of the vine, fruit-growing, and the manufacture of watches, &c., are the chief industries; 85 per cent, of the people speak French.

2. Capital (78) of the canton, occupies a splendid geographical position at the south-western end of the lake, at the exit of the Rhone; the town existed in Caesar's time, and after being subject in turn to Rome and Burgundy, ere long won its independence in conjunction with Bern and Freiburg. In Calvin's time it became a centre of Protestantism, and its history, down to the time of its annexation by Napoleon in 1798, is mainly occupied with the struggles between the oligarchical and democratic factions. On the overthrow of Napoleon it joined the Swiss Confederation. Since 1847 the town has been largely rebuilt, and handsomely laid out. Among many fine buildings are the Transition Cathedral of St. Peter (1124), the Academy founded by Calvin and others.

The Rhone flows through it, and compa.s.ses an island which forms part of the city. It has many literary and historical a.s.sociations, and was the birthplace of Rousseau.

GENEVA, LAKE OF, or LAKE LEMAN, stretches in crescent shape between Switzerland and France, curving round the northern border of the French department of Haute-Savoie; length, 45 m.; greatest breadth, 9 m.; maximum depth, 1022 ft. On the French side precipitous rocks descend to the water's edge, and contrast with the wooded slopes of the north. The water is of a deep-blue colour; many streams flow into it, notably the Rhone, which flows out at Geneva.

GENEVIeVE, the patron saint of Paris, born at Nanterre; by her prayer the city, then called LUTETIA (q. v.) was saved from the ravages of Attila (422-512) and his Huns.