Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/663

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GERHARD
GERONIMO
629

Buildings” (1887); “Domestic Sanitary Appliances” (Springfield, 1887); and “The Disposal of Household Wastes” (1887).


GERHARD, William Wood, physician, b. in Philadelphia, 23 July, 1809; d. there, 28 April, 1872. He was graduated at Dickinson in 1820, and received the degree of M. D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1832. After graduation he entered the Pennsylvania hospital as resident physician, where he spent three years in practical study. He then visited Europe, spent several years in Paris under the private instruction of the celebrated auscultator, Dr. Louis, and began investigations into the character of Asiatic cholera, small-pox, tubercular meningitis, and pneumonia in the young. He also collected a portion of the materials for his original work on typhoid and typhus fevers, which he afterward completed by establishing the specific differences between these two diseases. After his return to Philadelphia he was appointed lecturer in the medical institute, one of the visiting physicians to the Blockley hospital, assistant clinical lecturer to the late Prof. Jackson, and subsequently one of the physicians to the Pennsylvania hospital, where he lectured to a large class of students, and for twenty-five successive years was the senior physician to that institution. He was the author of numerous valuable papers in the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences" and in the "Medical Examiner," of which paper he was editor, but his principal work was the "Diagnosis, Pathology, and Treatment of the Diseases of the Chest," which first appeared as a short treatise on the "Diagnosis of Thoracic Diseases " (1835). At the request of many of his pupils he added general symptoms and treatment, with additional lectures (1840; enlarged ed., 1800). It was again issued, being a 4th ed., in 1800, revised and enlarged (Philadelphia). He was also the author of "Spotted Fever, or Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis" (1803); "Fevers" (18e7-'8) ; and a "Clinical Guide" (Philadelphia). He edited Graves's "System of Clinical Medicines," with notes and additions. — His brother, Benjamin, lawyer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1812; d. there, 18 June, 1804, was graduated at Dickinson college in 1828, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1832. He filled many responsible offices in his native city, and during the early part of the civil war was appointed provost-marshal of Philadelphia to superintend the draft, performing the duties without compensation. He was also a founder and an officer of the Union league. His death was hastened by his devotion to the national cause. As a lawyer he ranked high, and pub- lished several carefully edited text-books, among which are "Starkie on Evidence" and Joshua Williams's "Principles of the Law of Personal Property" (2d American edition, from the 2d London edition, edited by Benjamin Gerhard and Samuel Wetherill, Philadelphia, 1855).


GERHART, Emanuel Vogel, educator, b. in Freeburg, Snyder co., Pa., 13 June, 1817. Pie was graduated at Marshall college, Mercersburg, Pa., in 1838, studied theology, and was ordained a clergyman of the German Reformed church. He subsequently received the degree of doctor of divinity. He was president of Heidelberg college at Tiffin, Ohio, and professor in the theological seminary from 1851 till 1855, and of Franklin and Marshall college from 1855 till 1806. In 1808 he was chosen to be professor of systematic and practical theology in the seminary of the Reformed church at Lancaster, Pa., and president of the faculty. He has been a frequent contributor to religious literature, and for several years edited the "Mercersburg Review." His most important work is "Philosophy and Logic" (Philadelphia, 1857).


GERMAINE, Lord George, Viscount Sackville, English statesman, b. in England, 20 Jan., 1716; d. there, 26 Aug., 1785. He was the third son of the first Duke of Dorset. His father being lord-lieutenant of Ireland, he was educated at Trinity college, Dublin. He served in the British army in Germany, attaining the rank of lieutenant-general, but was cashiered for cowardice at the battle of Minden. He entered parliament in 1701. and on the accession of George III., with whom he was a favorite, was made colonial secretary, in which office he had charge of the conduct of the war with the colonies. He zealously supported all vigorous measures against the colonists, and sternly opposed every attempt to effect a termination of hostilities. He advocated the hiring of mercenaries, urged the Six Nations to unite against the rebels, rejoiced over the massacres by the Indians, praised British rapacity and cruelty in the colonies, and applauded the plot to buy Arnold and others. He was so consistently an opponent of all liberal measures that he became highly unpopular in his own country, and during the London riots of 1780 he was compelled to barricade his house. In 1783 he became Viscount Sackville. He was one of the supposed authors of the Junius letters. Bancroft, in his "History of the United States," -represents Lord George as ambitious, opinionated, and full of envy, arrogant in speech and combining contemptuous haughtiness toward his inferiors with meanness of spirit. Without fidelity, fixed principles, or logical clearness of mind, and unfit to conduct armies or affairs, he joined cowardice to love of superiority and a dislike of those who thwarted him. " Apparelled on Sunday morning in gala," says the historian, " as if for the drawing-room, he constantly marched out all his household to his parish church, where he would mark time for the singing- gallery, chide a rustic chorister for a discord, stand up during the sermon to survey the congregation or overawe the idle, and gesticulate approbation to the preacher or cheer him by name."


GERMAN, Obadiah, senator, b. in Dutchess county, N. Y., in 1707 ; d. in Xorwich, N. Y., 24 Sept., 1842. He received an academic education, and removed in 1792 to Norwich, N. Y. He was a member of the assembly in 1798, 1804-'5, and 1807-'9. He was then elected to the U. S. senate as a Democrat, serving from 22 May, 1809, till 3 March, 1815. He voted against declaring war with Great Britain, but, after hostilities had been begun, he did all in his power to support the war measures of the administration. He was again elected a member of the assembly in 1819, and chosen speaker. He was also first judge of Chenango county for several years, and was subsequently loan commissioner and brigadier - general of militia. Later in life he became a zealous Whig.


GERONIMO, a chief of the Chiricahuas, belonging to the Apache tribe of North American Indians. As Geronimo had for some time been at the head of a band of “hostiles,” Lieut.-Gen. Sheridan ordered the pursuit, capture, and destruction of the chief and his followers. The expedition was commanded by Gen. George Crook, and a meeting with Geronimo was effected on 25 March, 1886. Gen. Crook demanded his unconditional surrender, with the members of his band; but the Indian declared that he would give himself up only on condition that the band should be sent east for a period not exceeding two years, with the privilege of taking their families with them, and that they should ultimately be returned to the reservation